Old War, New Battles
by Joel B Atwater
Summary: This story begins at S 1 Ep 50 The Return. Basically Mayor Dewy is actually competent and calls in the National Guard to assist with evacuations. The Nearest National Guard unit is heavily under manned and send out a call for assitance. The nearest units that can help are the 1st/5th Marine infantry battalion and the 3rd MEU. Please leave any suggestions/critiques in the reviews.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright this story is really meant for a certain type of reader (if you're interested in Tom Clancy's style of writing than you should like this) ,but as I add more to it and hopefully get more feedback I will try to make it more for a broader audience. I hope to update once weekly, or at the very least monthly. Please leave any comments, critiques, suggestions, or other such things in the reveiws.**

 **Anyway quick summary of the universe/plot of this story, it will start just at the beginning of Ep 50 S 1 The Return. So as the summary stated Mayor Dewey decides that local law enforcement and emergency response agencies won't be enough to (given that Beach City is based off of the real life Ocean City which as of 2010 had a population of just over 7,000) safely evacuate the citizens of Beach City. He calls in the National Guard and gives them the situation. They then send an immediate distress call to any near by military outpost, as they are just barely a company of infantry and two light armoured platoons, (108 foot soldiers and 6 Stryker APCs plus crews and mechanics for their vehicles ) and the nearest units that are able to respond are the 1st/5th Marine Raiders infantry battalion and the 3rd Marines Expeditionary Unit, which had just dropped off the 1st/5th after their tour in Afghanistan. (Yes I know that World War 2 didn't happen or in the words of the SU wiki "** **World War II has not happened"** **in the SU universe and because of that fact many people within the SU fan base jump to the conclusion that a war between humans has never happen, which is beyond ridiculous.)**

 **I haven't decided yet if I want to have the Marine battalion be tied to some other government agency that looks for gem stuff or if I want them to be stand alone but I definitely want to include that element into the story. I do hope that you will leave me critiques and suggestions in the reviews.**

 **So let's get into the actual story.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

 **The Citizen Soldier**

The constant beating of the CH-35E's blades was all that kept Cpt. John Cupal from sleep. That and the heat of 50 some bodies crammed into a space the size of a school bus. John was fine with not sleeping, he still had the dreams and waking up screaming on a packed helo wasn't the best idea. Still he knew that he was low on energy and needed rest, so he tried once again to close his eyes and block out the roar of the engines. He remained like this, still and tense, for many five minutes before he opened his eyes again and looked once more around the cabin.

The Marines on either side of him were all trying to do the same or had found ways to entertain themselves. He saw that a group of four or five was playing dice on an area of the floor they had cleared of rucksacks and rifles. To the left of him two more were passing a flask between themselves.

John couldn't help but smile to himself. If where three months ago he crack both of them upside the head, but now that his battalion was back in the states he really couldn't care less. Most of the marines here where half his age, but he be damned if they couldn't drink him under the table. Besides everyone deserved a little R&R. The Korengal valley had been rough and most of his 135 man company had been replaced or injured during their almost 2 year tour. He was glad that this time they would only be helping with evacuations.

He and the other Captains had already been briefed, but something still felt off. The Colonel had told them that they were helping an understaffed National Guard unit evac the town because a large tidal wave was headed towards the city, but no major news network had reported anything like that, and on small local blog kept posting what had to be really good photoshopped images of a hand shaped ship above the city. John trusted his commanding officer, but he couldn't shake the feeling that those photos were the real thing. Of course everyone knew something had been on earth thousands of years ago, there were the hundreds of man shaped holes in that small canyon in Nevada and the other one in the middle of Keystone. There were also the odd crystal pads that dotted the globe and the broken down spaceships in Brazil, and of course there were always the massive monsters made of light with gemstones on their bodies. Maybe who or whatever had left those behind had come back.

John thought about that for a second and shuddered. He had see those gem monsters in action, see the way they ripped through kevlar like tissue paper and took 5.56s like they were BB guns, and then suddenly burst into smoke after enough rounds hit them. They were dangerous if an inexperienced squad came across them, but professional soldiers like himself could take them down easy. They were powerful, but not very bright and tended to attack what ever was the most immediate threat was. John shook the thought out of his head and concentrated on what the current mission was. He would need to deploy his men around the city and use sweep and clear tactics to clear every house, apartment, and shop in the city. He would also need to make it clear to his men that their weapons were only being brought...to do what. That also didn't make sense, if they were doing evac work why were they all decked out in full combat kit. Colonel Davis had said that they should gear up as though they were going into a two night firefight. But again John shook the thoughts from his head. If there was a tidal wave coming towards the city it could easily wipe it off the map and he didn't have time to think over what ifs and could bes. The officer veteran reached into the top left pocket of his gear and pulled out a map of the city. He looked it over and started marking places for units to go.

"Captain, you look like you could use a drink," John looked up to see his company Gunnery Sergeant half standing half squatting over him, with the flask he had seen the two Marines passing back and forth earlier and a half smile half smirk. John could smell cheap whisky from miles away and this stuff certainly fit the bill. John briefly considered saying no and then thought about the fact that he was still running on what amounted to four hours of bad sleep. The stuff would taste like shit, but at least he could get an hour or two of shut eye.

"Thanks King," John said as he grabbed the cold, aluminium flask from the southern blackmans hand and took two big gulps. The alcohol burned on the way down and John had to stifle a burp.

"You doing okay Cap? I know that you didn't sleep well last night," King asked, with a worried almost fatherly look on his face. John always found it funny how even though he was nearly twice Kings age, the Gunnery Sergeant was a constant source of advice and comfort. Made sense, the man had to little girls in Empire state after all and was the man of the house after both his dad and older brother walked out.

"I'm doing just fine King," John said sarcastically, handing the flask back to him, "I still have the dreams. You just don't forget that,"

"Everyone makes mistakes Sir and yours can't be entirely blamed on you. We all fucked that one up,"

"Yah thanks King, I'm gonna try and get some shut eye. Wake me when we're 5 minutes out k,"

"I got you Cap,: King said and sat across from John. John closed his eyes and felt the whisky work it's magic. So he was out cold.

 _The fire, it was everywhere. Climbing up the wall of the buildings around him. John could hear the sound of jets off in the distance their thunderous boom getting louder, until it was a cacophony of sound blaring in his ear drums. He heard the explosions of napalm and watched as another apartment building was engulfed in flame, the F-22 Raptors soaring past like angles of death. The world around john was nothing but fire, destruction and death. The screams of hundreds of people filled his ears till all he could do was drop to his knees han covering his head and wait for them to stop._

 _John knew they would stop, they always did. The faceless shout and wails of agony slowly faded until there was nothing but silence. John opened his eyes and looked down, and there it was. Three feet of steel and carbon fiber dubbed the M16A4. A sharpened bayonet fastened to the end of it. The point gleamed and it almost seemed as though the weapon was calling to him. John new he was asleep and often wondered what would happen if he refused to pick up the weapon._ "Would I sleep forever?" _John thought as his right hand wrapped itself around the weapon. He hefted it up, knowing that it should be light, but instead was heavy. John heard the all too familiar scrape of sand under worn shoes behind him. He turn automatically, like a programed machine and thrust the weapon forward, feeling the blade at the end pierce it's target. It was a man, his face covered with cloth and a mask. John knew that if he removed there would be nothing but shadows._

 _The man's body went stiff for a moment, as he grabbed the barrel shroud of the rifle, his knuckles white. He look briefly into John's eyes, a mixture of sorrow and hate, before he went limp and fell to the ground like a puppet who strings had been cut. There were more now, surrounding John. They carried clubs, knives, chairs, hatches, anything that they could kill will. The wasn't a gun among them and they had no hand to hand combat training, but that mattered little. John knew that there were hundreds of them and that he could only kill so many. Still he would fight, maybe hoping that if did manage to kill all of them the dreams would die with them._

 _One of them stepped forward, a rusted chain in hand. He was young, maybe only fourteen, but he had chosen his path. The boy began to twirl the chain, slowly a first, and then fast till it was little more than a blur. He then swung it, trying to smash the Marines face. But he was slow and predictable._

 _John brought the butt of the weapon up and wrapped the chain around it. He then pulled it down, ripping the chain from the teens hand and brought it around, slamming it into the boy's head with a sickening crack. John then side stepped as a man with an axe rushed him, and brought the blade of his bayonet down, across the man's back. Another stepped forward, with a butcher's knife and began slicing at the Captain, each stroke coming within inches of him. John waited and the as the man struck a little too far and a little too wide, John rushed forward. He speared the man and flung his body in the mass of waiting fighters._

" _Well? Come one then! Take me down!" John screamed at the hundreds of men around him. There was a pause, if only a second, and then they were upon him. Swarming him like rats, John could only take down five or six of them before they tackled him to the ground, screaming like an animal. John knew what would happen next and he could only wait, before_ she _came and then he would wake up. He screwed his eyes shut and waited, but she never came._

"Captain, wake up," King said shaking John awake.

He blinked his eyes several times, trying to get a bearing on his surroundings. He was still on the chopper, the continuous thump of the rotors bringing him back to reality. John looked at King and could see worry on the Sergeant's face.

"You good Cap?" King asked in his usual worried father tone.

"I'm fine Gunny," John said, shaking the sleep from his head, "How far out are we?"

"Five minutes, just like you said," King replied.

"Good, cause I really gotta piss,"

* * *

"How much longer till we reach the planet's surface?" Jasper asked with an annoyed tone. She was getting tired of waiting. She wanted to see Rose now, and break her, see her beg to let what was left of her armies go before they too were shattered. A smile grew across her face at the thought.

"I keep telling you I won't know until I complete my scan of the planet's atmosphere. It's been over 5,000 years Jasper, the planet could have changed dramatically," Peridot said with an equally annoyed tone.

Jasper turned and left the control room walkin at a brisk pace towards the training room floor. She needed to do something besides read old data logs on the planet. She was a taction and understood the point of intelligence about your opponent, but _she_ and already fought Rose's armies, _she_ had already lost friends to them, and for Diamonds sake _she_ had been made on the planet. The place was nothing more than rocks, trees, grass, and _humans_. The thought of the pitiful creatures disgusted her, even more so knowing that they were one of the many reasons for Roses rebellion. She could never understand why the quartz had forsaken the Diamond that made her for these lower life forms.

Jasper shook the thoughts from her head as the doors slid open in front of her. She removed her cloak and handed it to a robonoid. She then stepped forward and stood still. Two scanners popped up from the floor on either side of her and scanned her.

"Welcome to the training floor Jasper, what simulation would you like to run today?"

"Same as last time, sim _five_ " Jasper stated coldly. She waited as the various quartz holograms appeared around her. There were ten of them, always ten, and then Rose. The hologram was a poor rendition of the pink quartz warrior but it did fine for her training. The Hologram manifested their weapons and charged. The first one to come within range wielded a spiked mace and swung it. Jasper dodged to the side nimbly and brought her left foot around in a kick that hit the holo quartz like a pile driver. The form dissipated and jasper turned to face her next opponent. There were two of them, both wielding swords one a small drik like weapon and the other a broad sword. The holo quartz with the drik stepped forward first, and tried to stab low towards Jaspers abdomen, only to have it's arm nearly wrenched from its body as the veteran grabbed hold and swung the hologram like a flail, slamming it into to more holo quartzites. The second holo quartz charged forward and brought it's sword up, trying to slash across Jasper's chest. Jasper deftly dodged the swing and brought her fist up in the to holo quartzites chest, propelling it off it's feet and into the ceiling. It the broke apart into shards.

She smirked and the summoned her helmet, charging the remain holo quartz head on. The melee lasted only a few short minutes, and Jasper rose victorious or almost victorious. The poor image of Rose still stood, shield in one hand and saber in the other. Jasper's smile faded and was now replaced with a darkening scowl. She stepped in front of the holo Rose and stopped. This was a moment she had played over and over again and everytime she did it the same. Jasper ducked her head and charged. The holo Rose brought up it's shield to block and an earth shattering boom racked through the halls of the ship. Jasper and the holo Rose both stumbled back a few paces, before recovering. Jasper was faster and moved in close, were the long blade of the saber would be useless. She grabbed the holo Rose by the Neck and lifted her like a feather, slamming her back down into the training room floor.

"For your crimes of rebellion against the Diamonds and the _shattering_ ," Jasper spat the word like it was poison, "Of Pink Diamond I break thee, Rose Quartz."

Jasper ripped the saber from the holograms hand and slammed it down ward into it's gem. The hologram then dissipated along with it's saber and Jasper fell to the ground. Diamonds how it would feel good to do this to the real Rose. She couldn't wait.

* * *

 **So there's the first chapter done. I really want to flesh out the OCs as well as Jasper and crew, but I'm still not quite sure how I want this story to go. I have various ideas and have even thought ahead to a possible spin off, but I still don't have a clue how I want things to go after what I have planned for the events of Jailbreak. As i said before if you have any suggestion, critiques, ideas, anything at all please leave it in the reviews.**

 **Thank you and see you soon, hopefully.**


	2. Chapter 2 Breach and Clear

**Chapter Two**

 **Breach and Clear**

John checked his watch, it read 17:38, started the mission timer. He pulled himself, along with his hundred plus pounds of gear, off the seat of the CH-53E Sikorsky and looked around. The first thing that caught his eye was the concerned and confused look on King's face. The next thing was what King was looking at, a giant green space hand floating in the sky above him.

"Holy fuck man," said a PFC. next to him.

"No kidding," said another Marine behind him.

John couldn't believe it, but there it was. A real, alien space ship, fully functional and all. Thoughts raced through his head and for the first time in a long time he felt panic, not the regular adrenaline rush panic he felt with combat, but real, animalistic, panic. He had no idea what the opposition force looked like or even if there was one. He had no idea what their weapons capabilities were or if more of them were coming. He had no idea who they were. John sunk to the ground and placed his hand over his forehead. He felt as though he wanted to crawl into his kevlar vest and wait for someone else to fix things. But he couldn't do that, he had an entire company counting on him to lead them, along with a city of some 7,000 people. " _Think man, think! Okay so either Colonel Davis was lying or he's just as in the dark as us. There's still people in the city and that ship,"_ John took a quick second to look up at the hand, " _Yup definitely moving towards us, but slowly. Why hasn't it landed yet?_

Possible reasons rushed through the old veterans head, but only one made sense and it frightened him more than any other. " _They're the same people who came here before, thousands of years ago. They have no idea what their going up against, they're doing recon, getting a lay of the land. But if they're the same people then that means they also packing the same weapons"_ John wasn't a member of the GGRCA (Global Gem Research and Containment Agency) but he had many chances to talk with members of containment teams and had seen the test videos of recovered gem weapons in action. He had even been on the receiving end of what was called a light cannon in Somalia. The thing managed to total three M113s and disable an M1 Abrams before it's crew was silenced by a 120mm HE round.

John stood and looked around him. The faces of his Marines were panicked and afraid. He looked at the town and expected that the faces of the locals probably shared the same expressions. John double checked his gear and then climbed on top of one of the HUMVEEs that had been airlifted with the battalion.

"Alright Marines listen up!" John shouted over the cacophony of voices. All eyes turned to him, regardless of which branch they belonged to. His company, Bravo, had gone ahead of the main unit and numbered only 134 men in total, "We are the only ones here beside the National Guard and chances are that help isn't going to arrive for another hour or two. In other words, we're on our own. We however still have a job to do. That thing," John said, pointing towards the ship, "Is, until proven other wise, the most immediate threat to the citizens of this city. Given it's current pace I would say we have little over two hours before it hits that beach and whatever's inside comes spilling out. We and that understaffed NG unit are the only line of defense for this city. We need to move Marines, so get off your asses and and let's go! Platoon leaders I need to see you now, and someone get me on the mic with Davis,"

John stepped down and moved towards the nearest Lieutenant. Lt. Fry was the leader of first platoon, young, fresh and inexperienced, only having served 3 months in Afghanistan as a replacement. The kid was however a quick learner and had a good first Sergeant. Fry turned towards John and began to walk his way.

"Fry I need you to take your platoon and move from that car wash to the board walk. Clear any builds on the way there and tell any local you see to move towards the water tower. Tell them that the National Guard will be waiting there for them. Keep a round in the chamber, but all weapons on safe, there might be some wack jobs here who think it's their duty to protect the city. Do not fire unless fired upon. Meet at the base of that hill at 1900 hours, clear?"

"As crystal sir," Fry said with a salute, and then turned towards his platoon that had gathered behind him. John looked over to see that his platoon radioman, Cpl. Ramirez, was walking towards him.

"What you got for me Ramirez?" John asked.

"I got Davis on the line sir," Ramirez said as he handed the phone peice of his radio.

"Colonel, sir, would you mind going over our mission with me again?" John asked.

"What? Have you hit your head son, you're evacing a small ocean side town due to the possibility of a tidal wave hitting it," Davis responded, his voice dripping with impatience and annoyance.

"Then would you mind telling me why in the ever loving fuck there is a giant green, space, hand floating in the sky above me?!' John screamed into the headset.

"Now you listen to me son, I have absolutely no clue what the hell you're talking about. I have given you your mission and I am running thin on patience. If you call me again with more bullshit prank calls I will have your career driven into the ground!"" Davis screamed back and the radio went to static. John headed the headset back to Ramirez and leaned against the side of the Sikorsky.

" _So Davis is in the dark just like us. Either that or he's a damn good actor,"_ John thought. This was bad. John had been on plenty of missions where he was kept in the dark, you didn't do special forces work and expect to get all the info, but this was really bad. If Davis had no idea what was happening then any hope for proper reinforcements was gone. John knew that the main unit was two hours behind his helo unit and that was best case. He also could shake the feeling of familiarity.

A voice, small and quiet, but unsettling none the less spoke, " _Kali Mul wasn't much bigger than this, and you remember how that went. There weren't even aliens then. I wonder what they'll call you here? Maybe the Beach City Butcher,"_ John wanted to say shut up, but he knew his men were already concerned enough and talking to himself would land him a section eight for sure.

John was brought out of his train of thought by a rough tap on his shoulder. He turned to see his other to platoon leaders were standing at ease and a man dressed in army ACUs next to them. The man had the lieutenants one bar on his shoulders and collar. The man looked John up and down and then introduced himself. "Lieutenant Jacob Spencer, United States National Guard Delmarva light armoured platoon leader sir," the Lieutenant said, with a crisp salute. John resisted the urge to punch the man, and returned the salute.

"I want you to tell me why the hell you didn't inform me, or anyone else for that matter, that a giant space hand is what we're actually going to be dealing with?" John said, each word hammering the air with anger and annoyance.

"We're in the same boat as you sir. Best guess is that the Mayor lied, because let's be honest if he said what was actually happening we would have thought it was a joke by his son. Wouldn't be the first time either," Jacob said, taking a few steps back from the disgruntled Marine.

John let out a deep sigh and said, "Of course, alright what support can you give us?"

"We have two Stryker Mobile Gun Systems, four regulars with the M2, three five ton six by six trucks and six Nam era jeeps. Other than that we just have about a hundred National Guard members, most of them barely nine-teen and losing their shit. Man am I glad you guys are here, how far out is the rest of the battalion and the 3rd MEU?"

"Battalion is two hours out best case and I have no idea about the 3rd MEU, our P-77s don't have the range to contact them. What rounds are the MGSs packing?"

"Mostly HE and canister shot, between them there's about twenty KEP(Kinetic Energy Penetrator) rounds and maybe ten HEAT," Jacob said.

"Okay I want the MGSs and two of the regular Strykers with my guys to meet that thing when it lands. Do you by any chance have any snipers with you?" John asked. His company only had four, himself technically one of them, though his current M4A1 with the CQBR kit hardly fit the bill.

"No but we do have a few guys outfitted with M21s, beyond that the guys I'm rolling with have only done basic and basically forgot it," Jacob replied with a smirk.

"That was a pretty shit joke, but whatever. I need you to give me the best shots you have and move them to the hill. Then take the rest of your guys and sweep the city," John said as he turned to talk with his platoon leaders. Jacob nodded and jogged towards the Funland parking lot that was packed with Strykers and trucks.

"Alright Bowser, I need you to take your weapons platoon and set up your mortars near that donut shop. Have rounds ready to drop, HE on two and WP on the other. Also have two of your snipers in the light house with a M203, (the M203 is an under barrel grenade launcher) and a M249 or M240. Either or works, just make sure they have plenty of ammo," John said and turned to King, his platoon sergeant.

"We're going to sweep from the east side of the boardwalk to the lighthouse hill," John said and turned to the last platoon leader, O'Donnell.

"O, you take your platoon and secure a forward operating base and the base of that water tower. See if any of the NGs have long range radio equipment, and have a squad search the houses just outside of town. Also I'm pretty sure that the Mayor's house is at the edge of town, so if you wouldn't mind pay him a visit,"

"Alright sir, what is protocol for disgruntled civies who want to exercise their second amendment rights?"

"If they fire, fire back and go for shock and awe. You are not to engage unless fired upon first, understood?" John looked each of his platoon leaders in the eye and got a nod from each. John then turned and walked into the Sorisky. As he moved up the ramp the crew chief turned to meet him.

"Hey I know that you guys aren't really outfitted for this, hell you're not even flying a bird meant for this kind of work, but can we count on you for air support?" John asked

"Sure thing Captain, we'll need some more rounds for the fifties if you want us to make more than one gun run,"

"I'll talk to the NGs, I'm sure they can spare some ammo, and I'll have someone check around for a MK19. At the very least you can borrow a few of my grenadiers," John said as he turned and walked out of the helicopter. He stopped and looked over the ocean.

"Taking your damn time, fucking Navy," John muttered under his breath. He then double checked his ammo and other gear going down the list. He was glad that he had gone with his gut and packed extra ammo, along with a few smaller weapons. He the made his way towards his squad and began the sweep. It was going to be a day.

* * *

Peridot sat hunched over the ship's main console a scrolled through any old logs on the failed colony. It was odd that few of them mentioned the so called Crystal Gems, and even fewer went into any real detail on them, beyond what rumours had already told her. Everyone knew about the colony, but very few besides the Diamonds themselves knew the actual reason for its abandonment. Peridot had tried asking Jasper about it, but all she would ever get in reply was a few short words about some long forgotten war and then Jasper would walk to the training room. Diamonds she hated that room, always filling the rest of the ship with the sounds of barbaric fighting.

Of course if asked to Peridot would lay down her gem without question for the Diamonds, or shatter anyone who got in the way of their goals, but it didn't make the act any less distasteful. As she looked over another log on the sea spire she saw a notice flash across her screen. There was activity in the grouping of structures below her. Several, what appeared to be primitive ships of some sort, were landing on the north most beach and humans dressed oddly and carrying strange tools were exiting them.

" _Odd, maybe humanity has evolved some sort of limb enhancers of their own, or maybe it's communication equipment of some sort,"_ Peridot thought. It had been thousands of years. If humans had sat around doing nothing than the structures below them would exist after all. Peridot shrugged and closed the video feed. Whatever it was, it wasn't relevant to her mission and would probably be of little concern.

Still Peridot couldn't shake the feeling that these humans were somehow different than the others. They were equipped with different body augments after all and something about them, as much as Peridot hated to admit it, was menacing. The tools they carried certainly didn't look like anything she had seen.

 **BOOM**

Peridot jumped in her limb enhancers as the sound of Jaspers fist impacting something echoed through the halls of the ship. She was reminded again of her rather restless and violent companion and could only sigh in annoyance.

"Go to earth they said, it'll be easy and get you the praise of Yellow they said" Peridot muttered to herself. She was, however, slightly comforted by this. There was a reason Yellow Diamond had selected this gem to accompany her after all. Peridot relaxed and proceed to look over other files on her screen. This mission was going to be too easy.

 **Well there's chapter two, I should be posting three sometime later today and I'm not really sure about these chapters. Both have everything I want, but there's still little things that I don't like, or want to add. But if I wait and keep revising soon I'll be writing a whole other fanfic. please tell me what you like and if you have any ideas.**

 **Sincerely**

 **Joel B Atwater**


	3. Chapter 3 Danger Close

**Chapter Three**

 **Danger Close**

"Sir we finished clearing out the houses on the north side of the city and are heading your way, ETA five minutes out" Fry said over the hand held. John was glad, they were making good time. His platoon had cleared every building west side of the board walk to the hill. They had encountered little civilian presence and what little they did find was over joyed that the military was there.

John was glad that they were making good time, but apparently the video of the ship had gone viral and mass, discombobulated evacuations from nearly every town within a hundred miles had caused the rest of the battalion to be delayed. Not to mention the ship was probably going to land in the next forty minutes. Their time might be good, but it still wasn't on their side.

As John approached the foot of the hill he was happy to see that Boswer had his platoon digging fox holes and filling sand bangs. The two MGSs had been driven into holes about a foot and a half deep and surrounded by sandbags with an opening in the back. The other two Strykers had sandbags layered on top of them to act as additional armour. They were only resistant to 14.5mm round after all and the extra protection could really hurt.

"Evening sir, you enjoying the Delmarvan coastal breeze?" Bowser asked sarcastically.

"Sure as hell am, you guy operational?" Jon replied.

"Yup, the 81s are ready to drop rounds whenever. If you want I could try to ping the ship from here," Bowers said jokingly. The 32 man platoon had managed to set up a reasonably good defensive position all things considered. The Marines had dug three mortar pits, connected two, and were working steadily on the third. The position was maybe three hundred meters away from The Big Donut and had a pretty clear view of the beach where the ship would land. John looked up and notice for the first time a hand jutting out of the side of the hill. In it were what appeared to be a washing machine and dryer.

"You noticed the statute too huh," said King appearing suddenly at John's side. That man's ability to move so silently was uncanny and going to be the cause of him getting accidently stabbed.

"Yah, who'd you built it?"

"Beats me man, but maybe they can tell us.," King said as he pointed at an old van heading their way. John felt his hand subconsciously move to his rifle and he had to stop himself. This wasn't Iraq, Assyria, or Afghanistan. That van wasn't a car bomb and John really need to get used to the fact that he was back in the states.

The van was white, and had a mural of space and the words _Mr. Universe_ printed on the side. In the front seat was a man who looked in his late forties and a kid who looked about thirteen with curly black hair and a somewhat saddened and determined expression. Two of the marines who were cleaning the mortar tubes stopped and grabbed their M16s. They hopped out of the pit and walked toward the van. The van stopped short of the small defensive position and the man poked his head out the window.

"Hey what's going on? I thought you guys were just helping with evacuations," The man shouted.

"We thought the same thing, but unless you want that thing," one of the Marines said gesturing to the ship, "to slam into the city, I suggest you get out of here and let us do our job. The National Guard unit has set up outside the Mayor's house and is going to head out in about fifteen minutes. If you want security on your way out I suggest you hurry sir,"

"Alright, thanks and we're the owners of the house over there by the way. It's just us in there," The man said and began to drive away.

" It's not just us Dad, there's Garnet, and Amethyst, and Pearl. They need to know their there, so they can help them," The boy said to his father.

"Steven I told you to stop call your, uh, cousins gemstones. Sorry sir, the people my son is talking about already evacuated early today,'

"Rrright, you have a good day sir," the Marine said with a raised eyebrow. The van drove past the small artillery position, and the son and father seemed to be in deep conversation about something. The Marines turned and walked back to the mortars they had been cleaning. The one who had spoken to the man walked towards John.

"Sir I think that we should search the house, that guy was definitely lying about there not being anyone else,"

"If we had the time I would say yes, but seeing as that thing is going to be on top of us in forty minutes best case, I couldn't really careless if someone wants to stay and watch the fireworks," John said. He made a valid point, the company had had only a few hours to prepare and still wasn't at full strength. He wanted to have O'Donnell's platoon here him, but given the fact that they still didn't know the ships intentions or weapons capabilities were, it was smart to have a platoon hanging back in reserve. At the very least if the main force got wiped out then O'Donell could by the evac some time.

"Sir where should our platoon set up?" King asked.

"Have the guys scatter out amongst the rock on the beach, and have they cover themselves with blankets or tarps. We don't know if that thing has thermals, but better safe," John said and moved to what appeared to be a large hand sticking out of the sand. He unfolded a reflective blanket from his kit and laid it on the ground. The blanket was little more than a reflective sheet of some plastic material and would cover his heat signature for only an hour at most. But that's all he would need.

John weighed down the corners with sand, and removed his entrenching tool from his belt. He unfolded it and began to dig a shallow foxhole. Something just big enough for him to lay down in. Just as he finished digging to dig he noticed three women standing on the beach facing the ship. One of them was easily six feet and that was before you added the massive afro, her body a mix of red and black. The other was a maybe five foot something, pale, and extremely skinny. The last was short, with long, flowing hair and her skin a deep purple. But that wasn't what peaked Johns interest. No, it was the fact that on the skinny and short one he could see gemstones, planted in their bodies. The skinny one had what looked like a pearl on her forehead and the short one some kind of purple diamond in her chest.

"What the fuck," John muttered to himself as he watch the purple and ivory gems bow and begin to dance. Their styles were completely different, the ivory gem's moves deliberate, smooth and graceful. While the purple one's were much more serpatic, and unfocused. The two moved towards each other and then their gems and bodies began to glow. Their bodies shifted, as though made of liquid or molten metal, and then began to phase into each other. Soon the mass of light that was once the two women grew and began to take shape as a massive person.

John and the Marines around him watched in amazed silence as a twenty foot tall woman appeared before their eyes. She had two pieces of hair running down the sides of her face, a massive billowing amount down her back and four slender arms, two on either side of her body. She opened her eyes and faced the red and black woman, easily dwarfing her.

"Sir you orders," King asked, knee deep in his own foxhole.

"Hold fire, who or whatever they are, they're not hostile," John said. This was certainly going to be an interesting night.

* * *

Peridot watched the as two gems below her, an amethyst and a pearl, from a cross gem fusion. She couldn't help but curl her lips in disgust. On homeworld even speaking of such things could cause grave punishment, and actually doing them. Now that was a quick way to get shattered. She watched as the fusion materialized a bow and fired an arrow made of pure energy at the ship. It broke apart into many smaller arrows, all of which slammed themselves into the hull with little effect. The entire ships armour was designed to defect energy based weapons. What did these stupid clods expect to happen.

Peridot chuckled as the fusion fired another arrow, which had the same effect. She looked to find which room Jasper was in and was pleased that the soldier was retrieving their informant. The Lazuli gem had been difficult to say the least, not even flinching at the mention of being shattered. But once the idea of being placed in some sort of object that would have forced her to talk was brought up, the gem became a well of information.

Peridot had never asked what had happened to the Lapis Lazuli on Earth, and honestly couldn't care less. She had however learned that the gem had been placed in a mirror at one point and used as a tool on Earth before the colony was abandoned. Apparently she had retained consciousness during her time spent as the object. The idea of such a thing did frighten Peridot and for a brief moment she wondered if all gems used as power sources experienced the same thing, but the thought was quickly pushed aside. The idea that the Diamonds would allow such a travesty to take place was unthinkable.

Peridot got up from her chair and proceeded to walk towards the ship's top most intense. She still didn't understand why Jasper demanded that they come out of that exit. After all they would need to jump down from the top of the ship to land on the beach. But Jasper had insisted that doing so would create, what had she called it, a shock and awe effect. Peridot shook her head, the nuances of warfare were beyond her. She was a technician and well she did know how to use the weapons systems in her limb enhancers, she had never bothered to learn any real strategy. Such things were for soldiers like Jasper, to make them feel like the barbarism of warfare they were made for had some sort of intelligence involved.

Peridot stopped at the lift shoot and waited. It was only a few minutes before they would touch down and she really could wait to get this ordeal over with. She looked up as Jasper walked towards her with the blue gem in tow. The soldier entered the lift with the Lazuli and Peridot followed. The ship hand landed and the fingers came down on the beach with a thud. The lift shot them up to the top of the ship and moved them across it's surface. So they would come face to face with the Crystal Gems.

* * *

John almost jumped out of his vest as a pink lion with the kid from earlier on it's back appeared out of a worm hole. The kid stopped and said something along the lines of stay here and ran towards the three gems on the beach. "This dad keeps getting weirder and weirder," John muttered to himself.

John watched from his covered position as the ship landed and the three beings stepped out from the ball that had moved across the palm. The green one said something to the orange one and she pulled a blue being from behind her. John noted that both green and orange aliens had gems mounted on their heads, and the blue one in her back. The three gems who had been on the beach each yelled something inaudible at the landing party. The trio jumped down from the hand and the orange gem said something two the green one.

" _There's no fucking way that a ship that size has only three of them on it,"_ John thought. The thing was massive, if it took a handful of sand from the beach below it, it would dig a new shore line. The green gem opened up a holographic screen and suddenly the ship moved, It changed shape until the hand was pointing at the three gems and the boy on the beach like a gun. The index finger began to glow brightly and then a beam of light fired out of it towards the small group. Before it impacted the boy jumped forward and all John heard was a massive gong like sound echo across the beach.

John covered his eyes to avoid sand getting shot in them and looked up to see the three gems and the boy standing behind a massive disk shaped pink shield, embossed into it what looked like a rose. The shield then closed and the boy collapsed on the soft sand. The green gem then struck across the screen in front of her and the ship fired a barrage of light towards the defending gems. The tall one jumped forward, grabbing the boy on the way and covering him from the explosion, just in time.

The kid looked up to see the orange gem standing over him. As she began to step towards him the tall gem rushed forward to punch the invader, her hand enclosed by a massive gauntlet. The invader materialized a helmet and meet the tall gem head on. The two bounced away from each other, and the orange gem flicked her wrist and what looked like a cross between a taser and a long dagger appeared.

The tall gem rushed forward again. But the invader predicted this and backed just out of the range of the tall gems punch, slamming the weapon into her abdomen. The tall gems body sparked with electricity briefly and then straight cracks began to form across her. Her limbs began to break apart, and then she disappeared in a puff of white smoke, two gems falling to the ground where she stood a second ago.

The large invader stepped forward and lifted the boy off his feet, the other two gems rushing forward to stop her. She briefly spoke to him and then slammed her forehead into his face. The boys body when limp and the orange gem tossed him like a rag doll into the hands of the green gem, telling her to put him on the ship.

John rose from his position as the purple and ivory gems ran forward to combat the invaders. Before he could line his sights on the enemy, the purple gem swung a whip at her. The warrior sidestepped and grabbed ahold of the whip has it sailed past. She pulled violently on the whip and the purple gem was flung through the air like a child's toy, her body slamming into a small outcrop of rock with a dull thud.

The ivory gem rushed the warrior and attempted to slash across her chest. The orange warrior jumped back and brought the purple gem around like a flail, her body sailing past. The whip acted like an over sized bola and wrapped around the ivory defender's body. The invader then swung both of them up into the air and slammed the down into the sand. She continued to do this until the two gems bodies evaporated into clouds of smoke.

The whole melee took less than three minutes and John could only watch in stunned silence as the invader picked out the two gems. He was finally snapped out of his trance by the beep of his radio. He pulled the handheld from his belt and clicked the speech button. "This is Hunter actual, send traffic,"

"Sir this is heavyweight actual, we are ready to drop, call fire when ready," Let. Bowser said over the mic.

"Roger heavy, hold fire till my mark," John then switched to the channel that his sniper team was on, "Eagle eye this is Hunter actual, take the shot on the green gem. Shatter protocol is not in effect, how copy"

"We copy Hunter, taking the shot," the marksman replied.

* * *

Peridot dragged the Steven towards the gem landing ship. How could this be a gem, it was so heavy. She groaned had his feet dig into the sand.

Peridot felt something slam into her left limb enhancer and stumbled backwards, her left arm sparking. She looked down and was surprised to see a small hole had been ripped into the top of her limb enhancer. She stopped for a minute and puzzled over how it could have gotten there. As she began to get up she felt some small dart past her and slam into the sand, just where she had been sitting a moment ago.

Peridot dug in the sand for a quick second and pulled a small cone of of shiny brown metal. She inspected it momentarily and then same thing small hit her in the back and shot through her body, making a small divot in the dirt in front of her. Her chest was suddenly on fire and she had to resist the urge to retreat into her gem. She could feel the liquid energy contained inside her form began to spill out.

Peridot clutched her chest and grabbed ahold of the Steven, dragging him much more frantically. She struggled to keep her form together as she limped to the the transport. More of the small metal fragments slammed into the ground around her. She cried out as another chunk embedded itself in her right limb enhancer and settled halfway through her foot.

She finally pulled herself and the Steven on to the ship and closed the door. The Lauzi ran in behind her and more of the metal chunks slammed into the ship. Three of them struck the blue gem in the back and she let out a faint cry as her form dissipated in a flash of smoke. Her gem fell to the floor with a clink and Peridot reached over, pulling the gem out of the line of fire. Two medical robinoids flew over to her and began their diagnostic.

"Carry these two to cells and begin the take off sequence. Wait until Jasper is onboard to leave," Peridot told the robinoids and closed her eyes, letting the world fade away.

* * *

John rose from his small foxhole, took a knee, placed the sights of his carbine on the orange gem, flicked it to semi, and fired. The pin struck the primer of the bullet, exploding the powder and sending the 5.56mm round spinning down the barrel. The small metal fragment accelerated towards the gem and slammed into her chest. She stumbled, and lifted her head his direction. Her eyes burned with anger and fury, and she began to move toward John and his platoon. The Marines around him opened up and soon the gem was taking fire from all sides. But the bullets bounced off her with little effect and as she gained more speed she jumped forward. Her body tucked itself into a ball and it speed at John, a cloud of sand forming behind it.

John jumped out of the way as the ball of energy smashed through the piece of statue he had just been behind. He rolled and flicked the fire selector to auto. John took a knee again and dumped the remainder of his clip into the warrior as she moved past. The ball slammed into a two man foxhole behind John's former position. The Marines inside tried vainly to escape, and the hole exploded in a wall of sand.

John looked up to see the gem holding the battered body of a PFC in her hand, it's face to disfigured to identify. The other Marine, a female corporal, attempted to crawl away. She only got a few feet before the invader slammed her foot onto her back, pancaking her chest between the kevlar plates. John watch in horror as the gen threw the limp body of the PFC and another foxhole and began to charge it's direction.

She then charge the fox hole the paniked machine gunner and his assistant desperately trying to get their M240 out from under their dead comrade. She grabbed the main gunner by the arm as he was pulling his M9, and hefted him twenty feet into the air. His body landed on the roof of one of the Strykers as it was moving to help with a sickening thud/crunch. His body slid off the side, blood oozing from his mouth. She forgot the other Marine as the Strykers M2 began to open up on her, the .50 caliber round hitting her with enough energy to push her to the ground. She then rolled quickly to the side, and zig zaged till she was on top of the APC. Her fist grabbed ahold of the fifty mount and ripped it from the vehicle. She then grabbed the breech block with both hands and slammed the barrel down into the crew compartment like a spike. The barrel drove through the armour plate and a blood curdling scream was heard from inside the APC. The gem smiled, ripped the wrecked gun from the vehicle and tossed it into a squad of Marines running to help, crushing the chest of one of them, and breaking the legs of another two.

She slammed her fist into the hole twice and pulled the metal aside, peeling it back like a sardine can. The invader ripped the uninjured crew man out, grabbed him by the legs and twisted. John flinched at the sickening crack of the man's spine breaking.

John dropped his M4 and drew his sidearm, a Colt M1911A1, and fired every last one of the eight rounds at he gem, each one slamming into her back. John quickly reloaded both of his firearms and began to move back. He called to King, "Tell the MGS to throw a HEAT, and a KEP at that ship. I don't want that thing taking off,"

John then began to fire short bursts at the gem as she moved towards him. It was clear that the rounds stung her, but they did little in the way of actually slowing her down. She was massive, clearly built for fighting. Her arms were about as thick as John's head, her shoulders flat and broad, and her fists big enough that she could crash a watermelon or his skull in each. As she drew close John knew it was only a matter of time before he would have to go hand to hand. As she moved closer John fired the last few rounds of his clip and felt the bolt lock open. He moved his hand from the trigger and wrapped it around the butt stock, holding the small carbine like a staff. She was on top of him and John brought the but of the gun low, making it look as those he was going to slam it into the stomach. AS she moved her hand to intercept the blow, John changed direction, bring the buttstock up. It connected with her jaw, with a satisfying crack. The gem stepped back rubbing her chin.

John slid both his had up the gun to the barrel shroud and brought it around. It hit the side of her head, breaking the stock in two. The weapon was now a awkward club. John threw the broken carbine to the side and redrew his pistol. He fired two quick round at the gems face one connecting, the other hitting her helmet. He jumped back and drew his Ka-Bar in his left hand. He flipped the blade to the backwards position and wait for her to make her move. None fo the other Marines dared fire, for fear of hitting John. She rushed him, the taser dagger combo in her hand. She made a stab attempt, but John sidestepped and leaned in trying to slash her side.

She dodged expertly to the side and moved back. As John brought his pistol up to fire she ducked and the three .45 round sailed over her head and out into the ocean. She rushed him again,this time from his right. John knew it would take to long to bring his knife around and instead tried to pistol whip her.

The gem moved quickly out of the way and brought her fist up. The blow connected with Johns helmet and threw a couple of feet back. The world went black for a second as John rolled across the beach. He got up slowly and knew something was off. She was pulling her punches, trying to get a feel for their combat style.

John felt something loose in his mouth and spat a tooth on the sand. He rose slowly to his feet, and took his position. The two resumed their dance of death, both bobbing and weaving with the others movements. But John was only stalling. He heard the sound of the 105s firing and briefly turned to see two rounds slam into the back of the ship. The HEAT hit the ship, leaving little more than a small bit of the hull deformed. The KEP round however pierced through the hull of the ship with ease, it's depleted uranium penetrator wreaking havoc on the ships internals. That second was all the gem needed, John felt another fist hit his helmet, and the world went black.

* * *

Jasper watch as the Marine few back and came to rest on the ground. He was still alive, but his face was now swollen and bruised. As she walked towards his limp body, deciding whether she would taking him on the ship or crush him here, she heard a high pitch whistle behind her. Jasper suddenly felt something big rip through the left side of her body, and watched as her arm was seared from her. She fell to the ground, clutching what used to be her shoulder.

Jasper briefly considered her options and finally made up her mind when she felt more of those metal chunks hitting her back. She ran forward, scooped up the limp human's body and ran to the ship. More of the rounds hit her back as she pulled herself aboard. She heard the ship's engines starting and let out a sigh of relief. Humanity had changed in the last thousand year. Yellow Diamond would be very interested in the mission report.

As the ship began to lift of Jasper could hear the sounds of explosions slamming into the ship's hull. Jasper had underestimated her opponent and paid the price. Still she had gained something. She looked a the body of the Marine. Yes once he woke up they would talk. She would need to know everything he could tell her. The ship turned and she could hear the gravity engine begin to power up. In a few days time they would be in Homeworld space and Rose could finally pay.

Rose would be put on trial and shattered. Jasper smiled at the thought. Soon the murderer of her Diamond would be brought to justice. After so long she would finally pay. Jaspers smile faded as the ship lurched, and a wave of pain shot up her side. A medical robinoid was examining her as the whole ship suddenly stooped above Earth.

"Of course," Jasper said to herself. The human cannon that hit the ship must have damage the engine. They could still get to home world, but it would take years to get there without the gravity drive and if the entire engine was shot, then they were stranded.

* * *

King watched in horror as the ship turned and pointed towards the sky. The weapons platoon dropped mortars on it like rain, but they did little more than leave small dents. The MGS fired another KEP round at the back of the ship and King was pleased to see that a small explosion occurred after impact. They had kept the ship in orbit atleast. The engines then revved and the ship shot into the sky.

* * *

 **So there's three, and yeah I know that the beach fight scene was a little rushed at the end, but I felt that it was going on a little too long and so on. Any way for anyone who is wondering, the reason the HEAT round didn't penetrate and the KEP round did is because i believe that Homeworlds ships and shielding would be designed to stop energy based weapons, seeing as we've never seen them use kinetic energy weapons. The KEP round uses a solid projectile to go through armour, were as a HEAT round uses a directed explosion. I also would guess that the ship had some sort of shield around it that would have been weakened by both Opals arrows and the HEAt round. It would have been broken by the KEP and that would allow the mortar rounds to make dents in the hull.**

 **Other than that quick explanation I got nothing else for yah. Please leave a review with any suggestion, comments, or criticism you have.**

 **Sincerely**

 **Joel B Atwater**


	4. Chapter 4 Enjoy The View

**So I want to say that I reread the last two chapters and I really should have done so before posting. I know that spelling errors don't affect the overall story, but that isn't an excuse to have them. Any how onto the current chapter, so I'm not going to be writing from the perspective of the Crystal Gems for this chapter. Because we've already seen their actions and thoughts during the show, it seems a little silly to write scenes we already know. I also am going to keep making the scenes with Peridot and Jasper short, as I want to flesh out John's character more and his interactions with the Crystal Gems and Jasper. Now onto chapter four.**

 **Chapter Four**

 **Enjoy the View**

Peridot laid down on the examination table and let the robinoids go to work. As much as she would have loved to return to her gem, she couldn't. The gravity drive had been damaged during the fighting and well Peridot knew the robinoids could fix it, she had been given specific orders to report to Yellow Diamond herself. Peridot had never been poofed before and had no idea how long it would take her to reform.

Jasper had come into the medical station just moments ago, her left arm completely missing. The soldier gem stumbled into the room, supported by two medical robinoids. Her face showed strain and Peridot couldn't believe that she was still standing. Jasper took three steps and collapsed on the floor, her face contorted with pain. She groaned, hefted her body up and pulled herself to one of the other tables.

" _How had this been possible?"_ Peridot wondered. She turned her gaze to the ceiling. She needed time to process. Every report she had read on humans combat ability had all shown humans as weak, mostly docile creatures. When Homeworld first arrived on Earth most of humanity was still using stone tools. While Peridot had expected them to have changed in the last 6,000 years, this was too much.

As the medical robonoids went to work closing the wounds that Peridot had sustained and fixing her limb enhancers, she looked over at Jasper. I was beyond Peridot how and why the gem managed to keep her physical form. She had only been hit by two of those small metal chunks, and the act of keeping it together was sheer agony until the robinoids had given her a sedative. Jasper on the other hand had her whole arm ripped off and somehow was still in one piece.

Peridot knew that their bodies were different compositions, herself being a technician meant she didn't require the ability to take and dish out copious amounts of damage. Jasper was also an era one gem, from Earth itself, so she had been made with greater time, energy, care and resources that a new colony would have been able to provide. Still, most quartzites would have exploded into a cloud of smoke the very moment they received such an injury.

The medical robonoid was almost done, weaving light together like cloth stitching over the hole in her chest. The attachment to her left arm had been damaged beyond recovery and replaced. Well the limb enhancer had still been able to function, replacing it would be easier than fix and so it was done.

Peridot was glad she was not in a similar condition. Resources were running out on homeworld and if a gem was to badly damaged they were shattered. Their shards would be ground into a fine dust and recycled for the production of new gems, or gem technology. If she had been cracked the rodonoids would have poofed her, and then sent her for harvesting.

The idea of her mind being wasted for a power source did scare the gem. She had so much she could give to the Diamonds and knew that exceptions were nonexistent. If she were deemed a liability, then a new propose would be found for her or at least her gem.

She opened a screen on her working limb enhancer and began cycling through any information she could find on human combat and strategy. She would send what she found to Jasper, give her some additional questions to ask their newest prisoner. Peridot was glad the warrior gem had suppressed her want to kill the human. It was certainly an interesting specimen, robinoids were fast at work analysing its equipment and body and giving her a live feed of the information they discovered. The processing unit of this human was much larger and more active than that if it's predecessors. Other than that it was almost identical, maybe taller and more muscular. There were a number of areas where the outer shell of the specimen had been breached. The wounds had healed, but not with the flawless precision of her robonoids.

Peridot wished she had requested for robonoids equipped with additional scanners for looking through the human's outer shell. Of course she hadn't had any reason to believe she would need such things for this mission. She almost laughed. Peridot had no clue that she was going to be attacked or that humans would be so... difficult.

She let out a sigh and continued to scroll through the various logs and reports on human warfare. Well they would certainly be long outdated, but some useful information could be gleaned from them. As she walked past Jasper she was again impressed to see how quickly progress had gone on the repair of her arm.

" _Did her body possess regeneration abilities as well"_ the technician wondered. She exited the medical station and moved to the ship's control center. She walked down the long empty halls, each footstep creating it's own echo. The emptiness of the ship was stark contrast to the busting skies and walk ways of Homeworld.

As the technician continued walking she passed the holding cells of the amethyst and pearl. The amethyst had reformed by now and was impatiently pacing back and forth, waiting for her companion to return. The purple gem stopped and looked Peridot up and down. She was an amethyst alright, but shorter. Her form was very much altered and Peridot couldn't help but stare back with curiosity.

"Is there something you find displeasing about my form?" Peridot asked in a snide tone.

"Is there something you find displeasing about my form," the amethyst repeated in a mocking voice, "Yes there is, it's yours and it has that ugly diamond on it,"

"Oh please, is that the best your pebble sized processing unit could come up with?" You do realize that your stupid clodding self are my prisoner right ? Peridot retorted.

" Um, yeah I kinda noticed, what's your point?"

"Well if I were you I would keep my mouth shut, seeing as how I could take away your friend," Peridot said, and was pleased with the momentary look of fear on the gems face, "or I could shatter you here, and now. Not only would the Diamonds be happy, but doing so could earn me a great amount of praise."

"If you think shattering me is a threat you're wrong. Rose wasn't afraid to die for her planet, her beliefs, or her family, and neither am I," the gem said, somehow looking taller. Peridot turned and began to walk away, a little faster than she had been before. Of course she knew there was no way for the gem to escape, but still. Her resolve was matched by only one other gem Peridot knew of and that was Jasper.

She let out a sigh of relief as she finally arrived at the control center. She entered and had the ship give her a full diagnostic. She was not pleased to find that the gravity drive would require her personal attention to get fixed anytime in the near future. The technician rose from her chair and began to move that direction.

* * *

 _Flashes of the battle, the mistake, the failure, the massacre, over and over and over again. A Marine moving, firing her M249 from the hip as she moved to cover. The sound of a brick hut being ripped apart by a 40mm HE grenade. The feeling of warm, slick, blood on John's hands as he desperately tried to stop the bleeding and shut out the screams of the dying person. All of them coming back to him, over and over again. He knew he was dreaming, but he still couldn't wake up. The memories hit him like a tidal wave, and all he could do was drop to his knees, cover his ears, close his eyes, and wait for them to stop. He wanted to scream, to yell in defiance, but he would be defining only himself and his mistakes._

 _John instead waited. He knew what would happen next. He had lived with his guilt for years now and knew what his mind would do to him. It didn't make it any easier, but at least he knew. He could take some false comfort in knowing what would happen. So he waited. The sound of death, destruction, and carriage faded. They were replaced by silence, and then the sound of wind over a tall grass field._

 _John opened his eyes and looked around. This was wrong, he knew that he should have gone back to Kabul or Mosul or the Mog. But instead he was here. He wished that he could force himself awake, but something was stopping him. John looked around as was both confused by and wary of the landscape around him. It was a large open, grass field, on the top of a hill. He could see the ocean and the sun setting over the horizon. John turned and saw the entirety of Beach City sprawling beneath him. But something was off. The City was smaller, and the lighthouse that had been behind him was much newer. The entire city looked as though it had been transported to the 50's._

" _It's beautiful isn't it," a voice soft and sweet spoke behind him. John turned to see a woman, who had not been there previously, standing at the top of the hill. The sun was setting behind her, creating shadows that obscured her face. She was tall, with long, curling, locks of rose pink hair that flowed down her shoulders and back. She was wearing a beautiful, white, gown, that looked as though each and every last thread had been carefully woven by hand. But what really caught the old veterans eye was the pink gemstone, embedded were her navel would have been._

" _W-who...are you?" John managed to stutter out._

 _The gem placed a hand to her mouth and giggled. The sound was both sweet and innocent, while mature and somehow sorrowful. "I am someone not unlike yourself Captain. I was once a conflicted soldier, I too made mistakes, ones that cost me the lives of friends, enemies, and people of your species. There is much I wish I could tell you," the pink gem spoke._

" _Then tell me, please!" Who are you really, why did you appear in my dream, what do you want?" John asked, hundreds more questions popping into his head. The gem stepped forward, her face coming in to view. John studied her features, her smile that somehow made him forget his worries and fears. Her cheeks soft and warm looking, that gave her the complexion of a caretaker. Her eyes, warm and soft. But as John looked deeper he so something all too familiar. The look of someone who wasn't and never would be completely there. Of someone staring off, and remembering the mistakes they had made, the things they had seen, and done. Things that a life of therapy, drugs, and drinking could never erase. Things that one would have to live with forever._

" _How I wish I had the time to John," She said. A faint singing could be heard, but from where John couldn't tell, "Please take care of them John,"_

 _The singing grew louder and louder. The world around John melted away, until the hill was surrounded by endless black night. The hill began to fade, the gem along with it._

" _Please take care of him."_

* * *

"Hhhhhuuuuuaaaahhh," John sucked in air and shot up as he woke with a start. For the first time in a long time his dream faded into his mind. But the image of the pink gem and the words she spoke still echoed in his head.

 _Please take care of him_

Who, who was John supposed to take care of. His dreams were usually so straight forward, just reminders of his many mistakes and regrets over his 14 year career. Just relived traumatic events, all saying basically the same thing: you're a shitty person, who did shitty things, and this is your punishment.

But this... didn't matter. What did matter was finding a way out. Normally John would have waited a few days, met some of the other prisoners, gotten an idea of the terrain, and formulated a plan before even thinking of escape. But given that he was almost definitely in space and his captors weren't the Rusul Allah. Sure this wasn't his first time as a POW, but it was most definitely different from the others.

John examined himself. His shirt and been removed and put back on at some point, due to the fact that it was now on backwards. His vest had also been removed and was not present in the room. He was however still wearing his same pants, belt, and boots. As the sleepiness wore away, John became more and more aware of a dull pain in the left side of his head, getting less dull every second. He touched his fingers to his temple and pulled them back bloody.

He had gotten lucky. If the helmet had broken, or if he had gone with a light kit and not worn one, his head would have cracked like an egg. John pulled one of his morphine needles from was called a field utility bag. In all reality it was a green fanny pack. John gripped the small packet carefully between his thumb and index finger. He pulled off the needle cover and jabbed it into his thigh. John let out a sigh of relief as the morphine spread through his body.

He then removed his boots and began to inspect the soles. " _Alright where was that seem, I thought a cut it near the-Aha!"_

As small cut could be seen running the length of the boots heel. John pulled on the rubber and fell back slightly as the glue holding the heel on gave way. There were small cut outs for pieces of the heel to fit back into, and in the middle were two 8 round .22 caliber stripper clips and a knife blade about 2 inches long. He removed them and replaced the heel. John the did the same with his other boot. Inside it's heel was the knife's handle, 4 loose .22 caliber rounds and the pieces to a very simple pistol.

John removed the pieces and began to assemble it. He locked the 1 ½ inch barrel into the small frame, and placed the bolt carrier behind it. The pistol was a straight pull action, similar to the British Welrod. John inserted the bolt, and locked in the fixed four shot magazine, just in front of the trigger. He inserted four of the eight round stripper clip and tucked the remaining rounds into two small pouches on the inside of his belt. The pistol was crude and would probably be of little use against the orange gem, if he were aiming to capture. But John knew his situation was bad, and the ship would most likely have large amount of information on it. He briefly weighed the pros and cons. Shatter protocol was in effect.

John then tucked the pistol into a concealed holster on the inside of his pants. He locked the blade of the knife into its handle and slipped it into his left boot. John then looked back into his pack and was happy to see that his Greek cigars were still there. He briefly considered smoking one, but with the morphine in his system he knew he was already impaired, and adding more substances was a bad idea. He decided that if none one came for him in the next half hour he would enjoy one. He then removed his zippo and opened.

John flicked the wheel a few times, and the wick caught. He then flicked the lid back on, extinguishing the flame. He opened it again and removed the lighter form it's casing. He found what he was looking for, a small brass disk, about 3 millimeters in diameter. John rotated the disk, until he felt, and heard a faint click. The small grenade was now armed. All that would be need to ignite the three second fuse would be for John to slam the zippo's lid on the back of the lighter case. The small metal protrusion would punch through the weaken metal and detonate the explosive. It would be a small explosion, lethal only if it were within two feet of the target head or neck. But it was better than nothing.

John looked around his cell. The room was hexagonal in shape, about 8 feet deep, 7 feet tall, and 10 feet wide. It was also empty. There was no bathroom, sink, bed, not even any marks on the walls. The opening to the cell was covered with a yellow, see through, energy screen. As John approached the screen he could hear a faint buzzing sound.

" _So either it's electrified, or more likely it causes gems forms to dissipate after touching it,"_ John thought. As much as he would have liked to test the theory, the possibility of it being deadly was all that kept him from doing so. He instead sat and waited patiently. They would most likely interrogate him soon.

John didn't have to wait long. The sound of someone big moving towards him told John they were coming. He readied himself, triple checked that all of his weapons were concealed, and stood at ease. The large orange gem came into view a pressed a button on the side wall of his cell. The screen dissipated and she stepped into the room.

"Come with me human, we have much to discuss," the gem then turned and began to move down the corridor. John followed, matching her brisk cadence. It was clear the gem was military. The only thing that looked out of place was her massive hair, flowing down her shoulders and back like a lion's mane. He had to admit that the hair made her already intimidating appearance that much more, but it was highly impractical. It could all too easily be grabbed and pulled in hand to hand, and snag on things.

They walked down the long hall way, past dozens of empty cells. As they drew closer to their destination John began to hear a faint singing. It was clear, pure, and beautiful, echoing through the hallways with an eerie, yet enticing ring. John found himself temporary drift away into the music, and was only snapped back to reality by a conversation between the green gem from earlier and the warrior.

They had stopped in front of the source of the music. A small blue gem stood on the other side of the screen, her hands clasped together as though in a prayer. Her blue hair had long bangs that covered her eyes, and stopped just past her shoulders. She wore a small, blue, gown.

"How long until the gravity drive is operational? We need to get to Homeworld now!"

"One, the drive is utterly wrecked, I don't have the slightest clue what hit it or how it works. Secondly, our mission still stands, we need to check the Cluster's progress Jasper," the smaller gem shouted back indignantly. The warrior stepped back and slammed her fist into the wall.

"Stop Singing!" Jasper yelled in a voice that sounded too much like his Sergeant instructors,"Rose takes priority, fix the drive. As soon as it's operational we're leaving,"

Jasper turned and tried to yank John by his shoulder. John sidestepped and Jasper reached for nothing but air. As John watched the gem move past something red moved in the corner of his eye. John looked down the hall, but saw nothing. He shrugged, whatever it was it couldn't be against him. John then turned towards Jasper, her face a mixture of annoyance and resistance.

"Move," Jasper spoke. John proceed down the hall until they reached a large sliding door. It opened and inside was a table, and two chairs. John sat down at the side farthest from the door and leaned back. Jasper sat across from him and looked the Marine up and down. She then tapped the table and a small panel slide open in front of her. Inside was John's Colt M1911A1.

"I take it that your Jasper,"

"Yes, and you're going to tell me exactly how this thing works," Jasper said, her voice a low growl.

"Actually no, I'm not. I will give you all the information I am required to give you so that, when I inevitably die from neglect, you can send my body home. My name, Jonathan Charles Cupal, my rank, Captain, my unit, Bravo company 1st/5th Marine Raiders, and my serial number, 196814. You'll also need to know my home country is the Untied States of America. Beyond that any information I give you would be considered collaborating with the enemy," John said with a smile, that only grew at the look of astonishment and confusion on the gem,s face, "I also am going to need somethings if you don't want me to die namely, some bandages, my canteen, a few MRE's and somewhere to take a shit,"

The gem blink for a second, clearly taken aback. She then, as John saw it, threw a tantrum. She slammed her fist down onto the table, putting a solid dent in it, and then turned towards the wall behind her. She repeatedly slammed her fists into the wall and then whirled around to face John. Well the man wasn't afraid of death, he was afraid of how this gem might go about getting him there. "Now You Listen To Me, And You Listen Carefully," the gem said, hammering each word, "I have had it up to here with this mission, and it hasn't officially started. So you will tell me exactly what I want to know, or Diamonds help me, I will rip you limb from clodding limb. Have I made myself clear,"

"Sure have, but that still doesn't change my situation. If I tell you what you wish to know than I am a traitor to my country," John said. He was playing the long game, if he kept this up the gem would either resort to violent means of interrogation, or she would begin to try and negotiate with him. Either way John would get more information than he would give, even if it was only how far he could push his captors before being punched.

"I'm impressed by your loyalty, but it will get you nowhere. All we came here for was to capture the rebels you saw us fight and check the progress on… a project for the Diamonds," Jasper reasoned, "But you interfered and, as much as I hate to say it, your weaponry was rather impressive. So tell me how it works,"

"First you promise me that I can get the things I need," Jasper opened her mouth to say something, but John cut her off before she could, "And before you say, wouldn't giving you these items also be collaborating with the enemy, I need them in order to live. I need two cotton pads, a roll of gaze, 5 or 6 rubbing alcohol patches, my canteen, and 3 or 4 MREs. As for the waste disposal, you can shoot stuff into space right?

"You'll get whatever you need, once you hold up your end of the deal. Now show me how it works," Jasper said, growing impatient. John began to fiddle with the pistol. He removed the magazine and was pleased to find to rounds were still there. He locked back the bolt and removed the third round. John then paused, looked Jasper in the eyes, and dropped the bolt. The loud, metallic, click caused Jasper to jump, and John couldn't help but smile. She had only faced the weapons once and already was apprehensive of them He then began to go over the basic operating procedures of the pistol with Jasper, often giving incomplete or out right false information.

"You weapons are very simple, yet quite effective. How did you learn to make them?"

"Well I didn't make this gun, it was issued to me. However as to how humans figured out how to make them, time, trial and error, and most importantly innovation. One guy would come up with a basic design, take John Browning for example. He invented the operating action for this pistol, and now most every over semi auto handgun to day uses a direct copy or a modified version of his basic design," John said, with a hit of pride, "Humans did shit during the thousands of years you guys were gone,"

"That word you keep saying, what does it mean," Jasper asked, her face filled with curiosity.

"What wor-oh. OH. OOOoooooohhhh," John said, having come to the sudden realization that gems didn't produce excrement. Infact, as John began to piece more things together, he realised that gems didn't require anything he, or any other living creature for the matter, needed to live. " _That's why there was no bed, or toilet, the ship is meant for transporting gems, not humans."_

"You probably don't want to know. I'm just going to need some form of receptacle that can hold a large amount of liquid and solid matter. Oh and some air holes in my cell, actually now that I think of it-" John was cut short by Jasper slamming her fist onto the table. The Marine stopped and looked at his captor. He could tell that he was about to get the short end of the stick fo his part of the deal. Wouldn't be the first time at least.

"You'll shut your mouth and do as I say. I'm going to lead you back to your cell. After they go through a thorough examination, you will get back what ever pieces of you equipment I deem safe," The gem the rose and turned to open the door. John briefly considered grabbing the 1911 on the table in front of him, after all her back was turned, and he had yet to see anyone else who wasn't a prisoner. But he remembered how effective the weapon had been on the beach and decided against executing the gem. He instead rose and followed her out. They continued the way they came, until Jasper stopped in front of a now empty cell. It's energy shield was still on but it's prisoner, the blue gem, was gone. John quickly made up his mind. The blue gem was clearly not a fighter, and Jasper was already beginning to shake with rage. John reached into his pocket, grabbed the zippo, slammed the lid down, waited 2 seconds and threw it at Jasper's face. He then turned and bolted down the hallway and heard the loud pop of the small grenade going off. John darted down various hallways, until he found himself in a large circular room. The walls were lined with doorways and John could hear Jaspers pounding footsteps behind him. He choose quickly and ran into the hall to the right of him. The small .22 cal. pistol was now in his hand and John almost fired as he ran headlong into one of the gems who had been defending the beach. She was the tall one, her hips and chest wide, while the rest of her was surprisingly slender. Her eyes were, holy crap she has three eyes. John had to stop himself from staring. The gem looked down at him.

"Quickly, run down the hallway behind me, you'll meet Steven there. Follow him and the other two gems, I can handle her,"

John opened his mouth to argue, but then a very angry Jasper turned the corner and lock eyes on him and the gem. John turned, breathed in, exhaled, and fired around at were the gems nose would have been. The .22 flew down the barrel, and hit the wall a few feet to the right of her. "Great, all three of you are out, should I assume the others got free as well?" Jasper asked rhetorically.

"Good luck," John said and bolted down the hall. He turned and briefly saw Jasper and the other gem circling each other. He ran down the hall and saw the kid from the beach running in front of him. John caught up to him. The boy had curly black hair, a soft, kind face, a black eye and was a little on the large side. He however, much to John's amazement, could easily keep pace with the Marine. Sure John was old, but he wasn't that old.

The pair stopped in front of a set of cell that held the other two gems from the beach. Before John or either of the two gems could stop him, the kid shoved his hands through the yellow screen that covered the ivory gem's cell. The boy spread his arms and made a hole wide enough for the gem to move through. His skin was covered in yellow lines, and his body vibrating.

"Itt'sss okaaayyyy Peeeaarllll, yyyyou caaan gggget outtttt noooow," The boy said, his speech very much slurred. The ivory gem jumped through the hole and grabbed the child in a warm embrace. She looked him in the eyes her face full of joy and worry.

"Oh Steven your eye! Are you okay? Did they hurt yo-," The gem stopped when she locked eyes with John. Her face went through several emotions in a matter of seconds, finally resting on a mix of confusion, worry, suspicion, and fear. "Oh I see you found a friend,"

"Hi yah, I'm Captain Cupal. I would say nice to meet you, and ask for introductions, hows you day going, but we kinda need to move," John said, his point father enforced by the sound of someone slamming into something rather loudly. Steven then repeated the same process with the other gem, who was much less apprehensive towards the vet and introduced herself as Amethyst. The group then moved down the halls towards where they assumed the control room to be located. John found himself out of breath when they finally reached the door. John redrew his small pistol, loading two more rounds into its captive magazine. He placed himself against the left of the door and nodded to Pearl to open the door.

It slid open with hiss and John moved in. He methodically checked each area of the room in a matter of seconds and saw that Peridot was sitting at some sort of control panel. She turned and drew one of the taser dagger combos from the panel. Before she made it out of the seat John fired a round. The .22 bullet slammed directly into her gem with satisfying crack. John smiled, it was an excellent shot. Her body recoiled back across the sation and John began the process of chambering a new round. But before he could lock the bolt back, and eject the spent casing, the technician rose and charged him. Her gem was covered with a visor, that had spiderwebbed from the bullet's impact. Before she could stab him Steven ran forward and grabbed the weapon. It had the same effect that the yellow screen had, and soon it was broken in two.

John heard a whistling noise behind him and a whip sailed past, wrapping itself around the green gem. Amethyst ran forward, whip in hand, and tackled the now immobile Peridot. Pearl ran forward and inserted her hands into the work station in front of her, making a sound that could only be described as vaguely sexual. John looked at the numerous monitors that dotted the room. Many of them were covered in images from long ago, and text he couldn't read. One of them showed the ongoing battle between Jasper and the black and red gem.

* * *

Jasper tried charging the fusion again, and was throw. Again. Only this time she used it to her advantedge. She slammed into the sky light above her, and used in to propel herself down wards at the fusion. She was rather impressed that the fusion, as vile as it was, could hold it's own against her. But she then remember that not to long ago she had her arm ripped off, so in a reality the fusion was only winning due to Jaspers handicap. Well the medical robonoids had fixed her arm, it still felt off, and her physical form still needed both time, and energy to fully integrate it.

She slammed the two gems through several floors of the ship, until they found themselves in the engine room. The ship's main power source had taken surprisingly little damage from the KEP round, but the cables that fed its energy throughout the ship were a different story. The round had fractured into multiple slivers of depleted uranium, and shot gunned the room. The fusion had continued to mock her as the fight progressed. But the warrior paid little attention to such things. She was the perfect quartz warrior. What did she care what this disgrace to the Diamonds thought. Jasper charged the fusion again, this time hoping to pin her to the wall. Then she could beat the two into submission. One of them would need to be shattered in order to prevent their future reformation.

Jasper tucked her head, and felt as he body became a massive ball of pure, rage induced, energy. She flew at the fusion with tremendous speed, only to mis her by mere inches. She turned and began to circle the room, gaining more speed with each rotation. She finally bore down again on the fusion, this time making contact.

The Jasper began to feel herself being throw, and before she knew what had happened she slammed head first into the ship's power core. Her whole body surged with energy, and felt as though it were both freezing and on fire. She screamed, the sound drowned ot by the massive explosion of the power core. The world went white, and then black, and then the impact.

* * *

"Garnet!" John whirled around as the black and red gem ran into the room. She was battered and beaten, but otherwise looked in good spirits. A pair of sliver sunglasses covered her eyes. The ship continued to sail down towards the earth. As another explosion rocked the ship's hull, Peridot managed to wiggle free of Amethyst's graspe. The green gen hit her face on the floor and was enveloped in a green ball that disappeared for the cabin, and was shot out over the North American territory.

"The ship is going down," Garnet said.

"What about Lapis?" Steven asked, his voice filled with worry.

"There's no time," Garnet replied, and John was inclined to agree. The ship was going to crash land in the next minute seconds or so. John opened his pack, grabbed a bic, and a Greek cigar. He place it in his mouth, lit it and drew. " _Probably look nice as a shot in a movie,"_ John thought, as a pink bubble surrounded him. He puffed again on the cigar and braced for impact.

* * *

 **And there it is. Chapter Four, and man I don't know how I feel about this one. Sure it got the full weeks time, but in a week's time there is a LOT of rewriting. I had to dump half the chapter, and start over again, but who cares about that. Well I do, but you the reader most likely don't. So quick explaination of what some stuff is for those who don't know, and didn't google it, Greek Cigars; basically a cigar, but either rapped or rerolled with marijauna. I know what you're thinking, but isn't illegal. Well in our universe yes it is, but seeing as how the Crewniverse has stated that a great many things are different and that the shows universe is much more progressive, I think that the legalization of a plant isn't all that crazy. .22 LR: It is the world's second smallest rifle caliber, and yes it is a rifle caliber. It's in the name, .22 Long Rifle. The reason John would have this bullet in his shoe over any other, such as it's shorter brother .22 SR, is due to a few factors, and honestly I don't want this end chapter….I actually don't know what to call this/ what this is called. Point being I don't want to turn this into a massive fire arms and weed legalization rate. So with those out of the way I'll just say that I might be a little late with the next chapter, as I have all the ideas, just waaaaaaaaaaaay to many. Other than that please leave any comments, question, ideas, and please criticism in the reviews. I do read them, and would like to thank RavenGem, Wasupzombies123, and Vendicor for leaving reviews.**

 **PEACE!**


	5. Chapter 5 Friends?

**Chapter Five**

 **Friends?**

John looked around, and saw several pieces of rubble pressing down on the bubble. He guessed that there was probably two minutes worth of air in the small, pink, orb. He continued to puff on his cigar as he tried to work out a plan. He didn't have to think for long, as only few seconds after their crash landing a shock wave of energy tore the debris, freeing him and the gems. The bubble fell and John stood up, taking in his surroundings.

The whole beach looked like a Kansas movie war zone. All around him where pieces of the now destroyed ship. Various fires covered the area, and John took another puff of his cigar. He looked to see that it was the pink lion from earlier that had freed them. As the gems praised Steven and the loin John began to work out how he was going to get back to his company.

Then an all too familiar orange, tiger striped hand, burst through the rubble. Jasper ripped herself from the pieces of broken ship that had trapped her. She stumbled forward, her breaths ragged and hard.

"Oh come the fuck on!" John shouted. The gem warrior fell to the ground. She turned her head towards the group, her eyes burning with hate and anger. They rested on Garnet.

"You only beat me because you're a fusion. If I had someone to fuse with I'd-" her sentence was cut short by the blue gem lifting a large section of rubble off herself. She saw the warrior gem and sprouted wings made of water. Before she could take flight Jasper grabbed ahold of her leg and ripped her to the ground.

"Aw don't fly off so soon. Lapis listen, fuse with me. How long did they keep you trapped here, on this miserable hunk of rock," Jasper said, holding the small gem by her arm. She let go and Lapis fell with a whimper. She looked up, dazed and low on strength, at the group of gems and John.

"These gems, their traitors to their home world. They kept you prisoner, they used you, this is your chance to take revenge." Jasper said, "Come on, just say yes,"

"Lapis don't do it," Steven said, his voice full of worry and sorrow. Lapis looked over each of the gems, her face full of determination. She then turned and presented her hand to Jasper, who smiled and grabbed it.

"Noooo!" Steven shouted, reaching vainly for the blue gem. Jasper gracefully twirled her small form, and then dipped her. She then looked at the group, her face light up with a wicked smile, as her gemstone began to glow. The two bodies melded together into a mass of light. It began to sprout arms, and finally grew a head. Hair materialized from the fusions scalp, flowing like a small mane but short and tidy. It's hands slammed into the beach on either side of the gems. It opened it's four closed eyelids, each aqua green eye centering on them. It's face was covered with a twisted smile. The gems let out whimper, and John froze. The fusion then turned towards the water behind her and lifted a massive hand to crush them.

Before it could be brought down on them the hand wrapped itself around the fusions arm. It changed into a shackle and chain, and another grabbed ahold of the fusion's other arm. A look of shock covered her face as more chains wrapped themselves around her chest.

"What are you doing?" the fusion spoke , "I'm done being everyone's prisoner. Now you're my prisoner, and I'm never letting you go!"

More chains wrapped themselves around her legs and began to pull her towards the ocean. She struggled to get free, her body itself looking as though it wanted to break apart. The fusions head remained above water long enough for her to say, "Let's stay on this miserable planet, together!" and then she plunged into the depths. Everyone stood in shocked silence for a moment, taking in what had just happened. Garnet broke the silence.

"Yikes, they are really bad for each other," she said, adjusting her shades. Stevens phone began to ring and John was fully brought back to reality. He looked over the horizon and was pleased to see the ships of the 3rd MEU heading their way. He could also hear the sounds of large vehicles moving their direction. John then thought over how he was going to go about this. He putt out his cigar on the sole of his boot, placed it in his pocket, and faced the gems.

"Right, I need you all to come with me," John said as nonchalantly has he could. The gems all looked at him for a moment and then Amethyst burst out laughing . John smiled slightly and waited. The sounds of heavy boots on soft sand could be heard behind him, along with the sound of oiled treads advancing over the beach. John turned to see several LAV-25s, AAV-7s, and M1A2 Abrams tanks come around the side of the hill. With them was a company of well armed Marines. The formation stopped about 20 yards short of John and the gems. The Marines dropped to crouched or prone positions and the armoured vehicles trained their weapons on the gems.

"Allow me to reiterate, you are going to come with me, either walking or as gem stones. I have a lot of questions and you are going to answer them," At the mention of being attacked the gems summoned their weapons and took up defensive positions around Steven, "I wouldn't if I were you,"

"And why not?" Garnet asked, her voice a low growl.

"Because my guns are bigger, and I have a lot fucking more of them," John said, with a smirk. He heard a group of people moving behind him and saw that it was King, with two other Marines and the man from the van. Something about him seemed familiar.

"Sir, glad to see you're back in one piece," King said, "This is Greg Universe, the father of that boy. Let him talk to the gems, he can get them to come with us peacefully,"

"Ah, so that's where I know you from. You're Mr. Universe, my Dad used to listen to you all the time. Big fan, sorry for almost shooting your son and his...friends," John said with what he wanted to be a disarming smile. Based on the retired musicians reaction, it didn't work. John then stepped aside and motioned for Greg to go and talk with the gems.

"Uh, thanks for the support, and not shooting my son and the gems. Once I talk to them, and tell them why you're here, I'm sure they'll want to help," Greg said. He then turned and walked towards the gems. "Guys look, I know that they don't seem like it, with the tanks, and guns, and tanks with guns, but these guys are on the same side as you. They're just scared, and to be fair you can't blame them. Heck they didn't even know that they were going to be dealing with gem stuff until they got here a few hours ago," Greg reasoned. John could tell by the looks on the gems faces that they were not convinced, but Steven looked different. His face looked as though he could understand the fear, and nervousness that his Marines had felt when they first saw the gem ship.

"Greg please, these humans threatened us, and they don't exactly look frighted," Pearl argued, and to be fair they didn't. Their faces looked resolute, or just blank, expressionless. Before Greg could say something Steven stepped forward.

"Guys our job is to protect humanity, not fight them. If what Dad says is true then these army guys have no reason to hurt us if we don't hurt them. Plus Cupal helped us get off the ship. If was he really against us he wouldn't have listened to Dad. He would have just had his soldiers fire," Steven said. Pearl and Amethyst both looked at Steven and then at Garnet. Garnet stepped forward and bent down to meet Steven eye to eye

"Steven do you really believe that these people wish us no harm?" she asked, her voice strong and full of reason. Steven stopped and briefly considered. He then looked at Garnet and nodded. Garnet stood, and her gauntlets disappeared in a flash of light.

"Garnet do you really think that this is the best course of action. What if Greg is wrong, or they lied to him?" Pearl asked in a hushed voice, her spear still in hand. Garnet looked the ivory gem in the eyes, and Pearl meet her gaze.

"If Steven believes that these people don't mean us harm, unless it is necessary, then I'm going to trust Steven. He also did make a fair point that John helped us off the ship," Garnet said. Pearl looked as though she was about to argue, and then stopped. Her spear dissipated, and she stepped forward. Her eyes however continued to scan the faces and weapons of the Marines in front of her. Amethyst stepped forward also, her whip now gone.

"Alright good, now get in the back of that APC. Don't touch anything without my permission, and King get some blindfolds" John said, pointing to one of the AAV-7s, The gems, Steven and Greg made their way to the vehicle, but not before being stopped and having a piece of black cloth place over their eyes. It was standard practice when dealing with POWs, and as far as John was concerned the gems were a threat until proven otherwise.

" _Better to be safe,"_ John thought. As John made his way towards the vehicle he couldn't shake the feeling something was off about Garnet.

"Hold up, how did you know my name?" John said, his hand creeping to were his pistol was holstered. The gems stopped and Garnet turned to look at him.

"The answer to that question will have to wait, and as for the whereabouts of the blue gem you saw earlier," Garnet opened both of her hands to show a gem embedded in the palm of each. Her glasses had also been removed to apply the blindfold, her three eyes staring at him. John nodded slowly, and then continued to make his way towards the APC. As he moved towards the line of vehicles he noticed a group of figures moving his direction. The glare of the vehicle's lights obscured his view. Then the glint of the gold leaf insignia caught John's eye.

Colonel Davis was making his way towards the Marine captain, with the lieutenants of Bravo company in tow. The Colonel stopped short of John, and brought his hand up in salute, the lieutenants doing the same. John returned the salute, and stood at ease.

"Your senior NCO and your lieutenants briefed me on what happened. I'll be putting you in for a medal son. Now as to the matter of your capture, you're going to need to be debriefed, and I need to know every last detail of what you saw," Davis said. The colonel was old, having joined at 24 and severed now for 22 years. His face was clean shaven, his uniform immaculate, and his regulation cut blonde hair hidden under an officer cover. Having fought in the Soviet-Afghan war, the Gulf war, and the current civil war in Afghanistan the man was an experienced combat veteran. That, coupled with the fact that he and John had worked together for the entirety of his last 2 year tour, were the only things keeping John from beating the life out of the man.

"Sir as nice as a medal sounds I need you to do something for me. Do what ever you can to keep those gems from the GGRCA. If they get ahold of them, chances are they'll disappear," John reasoned. John was special forces, but the GGRCA guys were in the world of black ops. They were one of the few military or intelligence agencies who had declassified almost nothing since their creation. Created in 1962 as a special forces splinter group of the CIA, originally tasked with hunting down gem monsters with the help of other International Peacekeeping Alliance task forces. The use of gems in warfare had been banned since 193 However as the Viet-Cong and Kemper Rouge began to use gem monsters and technology for raids and with hundreds of them being realised on the Tet offensive, the GGRCA found itself becoming more active. They now operated as a very secretive special forces unit, and well John had worked with them in the past, he had never had the chance to look into after mission reports or what happened to gems after they were contained.

"I can't make any promises, but I'll see what I can do. Now as to the events of your capture and escape," Davis said motioning for John to walk and talk.

"Well sir, before I get to that there's another question that I need answered," John said trying to figure how he wanted to put it. He decided to go with the straightforward method, "Why was I not informed that the opposition force was extraterrestrial? Actually better yet why wasn't I informed that there was an Op-For at all?"

Davis sighed and placed his hand against his forehead. John knew he wasn't going to like this answer. The colonel stopped and looked John in the eyes.

"I was told of the actual situation a few minutes after you radioed, and was ordered to hold my forces in reserve. The order came from the top, and when I asked why, I was told that they wished to see how combat effective the crew of the ship would be if they were hostile," Davis said. John would have been angry, had this not been the answer he expected. He'd severed 14 years and come to expect that most guys beyond O-4 really just saw the boots on the ground as little more that numbers on a field report, or plastic pieces to be moved on a map. But that still didn't explain why the main force had been held back.

"Sir what would have happened if my company had not been able to stop the threat?"

"The Red Summer contingency would have gone into effect. The 3rd MEU met up with the _USS Asheville._ The crew of that submarine was prepared to launch a 150 kiloton warhead at the city if they were given the order to do so. The rest of the battalion was withheld as to reduce casualties," Davis said, his eyes down cast. John stopped and looked the man in the eyes. He then punched him. John didn't jump on Davis, or beat him senseless now that he was down. The Colonel had only followed orders, and everything he said made sense from a purely tactical point of view. But that didn't make it right.

John stood over the officer as he pushed himself off the sand. He stood and rubbed his jaw. His face was calm and collected, but his eyes showed that if John tried something like that again his career would sink like a lead rock in helium.

"You've got quite a cannon there son. I'll give it to you, I deserved that. Now the events of your capture," Davis said. John went over everything as the two made their way back to the line of vehicles. They sat down across from each other in the back of the AAV-7 that the gems, Steven and Greg were already situated in. Steven and Greg sat on the right, well the gems sat on the left. Davis radioed the rest of the battalion, telling them he was taking a small detachment back to Quantico. John continued to go over the details, the gems (reluctantly) chiming in here and there, until he was finished.

"So that's about it. Lapis and Jasper danced, and just as before their bodies melded together and made this massive...thing," John said. The column had been driving for around three hours, but had encountered some heavy traffic, "I assume you have questions sir,"

"Some for you, and others for them," Davis said, his gaze moving to the gems.

"Everything I told you was true sir. These guys have been on Earth for thousands of years, protecting humanity," Greg said, trying to sound as convincing as possible.

"And what exactly are they protecting us from?" John asked. He could already guess the answer, but he waited to hear them say it. Either that or hear them lie. Pearl sighed, and Amethyst tried not to draw attention to herself. Steven waited, expecting one of them to answer to answer, but the silence continued. Finally it was Pearl who spoke.

"We will tell you everything in time, but for now just let us rest. We've had a long day the same as you, and we are fully willing to cooperate," The ivory gem said.

"Fine, but just so you know, the longer you withhold information, the more likely we'll have to hand you over to the GGRCA," John said casually. He looked at Davis and got a small nod. The colonel knew the game John was playing.

"What's the GGRCA?" Steven asked. John stared at the kid for a moment, trying to figure out if he was serious. He studied the Steven's face, and found nothing but sincerity.

"He's joking right?" John asked, looking towards Greg and the gems. Again Pearl was the first to respond.

"Seeing as how Steven is half gem, and most of what he does is gem related activity, we have been homeschooling him. Mostly on the basics of reading, writing, and math, and then much more so on his gem heritage," Pearl said. John nodded, processing what he had just been told.

"Well the Global Gem Research and Containment Agency, or GGRCA, is a US intelligence agency tasked with hunting down and containing gem monsters, sites, and relics," John said, his tone now flat, "They are the driving factor behind several IPA rules of engagement, protocols, and contingency plans having to do with gems. You better believe that they'll want to get their hands on you, and if they do there's no telling what could happen to you. But if I were to guess, most likely you'd all be dragged to some black site, out in the middle of nowhere. Never to be seen again, after all you are gems, and these guys really don't have much in the way of a moral compass."

Though their eyes were covered, Jon could tell that the reality of their situation was hitting all the gems. All except Garnet. It bugged John, even the most stoic people gave some sort of reaction to a threat like that, but she remained blank. Not a muscle moved, though as John studied all the gems more, he noticed that none of them were breathing. Beyond moving with the sway of the APC, the gems were motionless.

" _Christ, they don't even need oxygen. Their completely self-sufficient, no blood flowing, or muscles spasming. It's uncannily weird,"_ John thought, his exhaustion finally catching up with him. He'd be to tired to dream, to think of anything at all. The ride continued slowly towards the base, and John began to drift off.

* * *

Steven wished he could see the gems faces. Usually he could read people, and understand why they were acting a certain way. Even more he wanted to ask what a black site was, but the air felt tense, and Captain Cupal had gone to sleep. The inside of the APC went quiet, the rumbling of the engines, and the occasional squawk of the radio.

" _I wonder why he blindfolded us, and why he treating us like this. We help- oh wait he escaped from Jasper on his own and met up with me. But we didn't attack him, and Garnet fought Jasper, and why didn't the gems tell me that Homeworld would be like this,"_ dozen more thoughts, ideas, and questions, rushed through Stevens head. His spiracttic and confused chain of thought was interrupted by a buzzing in his pocket.

 _ **Ding, Ding, Du-Da Ding**_

Stevens hand went to reach for his phone, but before his hand was even halfway into his pocket a vise-like grip clamped on his wrist. Steven froze and waited. His phone continued to ring for a few more seconds, and then went silent.

'Who is calling you?" the Captain asked, his voice low. Steven decided that lying would probably get him into trouble, and he did want to befriend the soldier. Steven went with honesty as the best policy.

"My friend Connie," Steven said, trying not to sound nervous.

"And why is she calling you?" He replied.

"She's probably just worried about me, we're best friends and I kinda left a pretty poorly thought out message on her answering machine," Steven said. He could tell that the soldier wasn't convinced by his answer, but he couldn't figure why John would think he's lying. He and the gems hadn't given them any reason to distrust them, and they were the Crystal Gems for crying out loud. The protectors of humanity.

"What's her last name?" John asked, his voice a little less tense but on edge nonetheless. He still hadn't let go of Steven's wrist and well Steven wasn't really all that weirded out by physical contact, he had to admit that this was getting a little awkward. That, and Steven's wrist was beginning to hurt.

"Maheswaran, her Mom and Dad don't know about gem stuff. Please don't tell them," Steven pleaded, realising the the soldier intended to get ahold of her somehow.

"Right, radio op," John called out. Steven heard movement near where he assumed the front of the vehicle was.

"Yes, Captain?" a voice questioned a few feet to the right of Steven.

"Get O'Donnell on the mic, and tell him to round up anyone with the last name Maheswaran. They'll have a kid named Connie. Tell him to have them escorted back to base. Infact, tell him to question everybody there on their affiliation with a kid named Steven Universe," the soldier said. Steven didn't like this. He thought that these army guys were just scared and maybe going to ask him and the gems some questions. But now they were rounding up his friends, and he still didn't know what they wanted, or where they were taking him and the gems.

Steven could hear the chatter of the radio and the rumble of the APCs treads. They had been riding for hours and all Steven wanted to do was ask where they were taking them. But he still got the feeling that doing so would be a bad idea. Steven instead sat, and listen to the sounds around him, Still trying to process all that had happened.

Finally the APC stopped. Steven heard a hatch open and the sounds of someone speaking. The hatch then closed and the rumble of the tracks resumed. He felt hands come on either side of his head, and lift off the blindfold. Steven blinked for a moment, adjusting his eyes to the light.

Steven looked to see who had taken the cloth off, and saw John. His hair was jet black, with a crew cut that was a little on the long side. His eyes a light, clear, blue, both friendly and intimidating. He had a distinct 5 o'clock shadow, that made him look a little wild. He wore a tan t-shirt and camouflage pants, covered with tan, brown, and beige splotches, and little bits that looked like chocolate chips. He was clearly muscular, but not a bodybuilder.

Steven looked around the inside of the APC. It's cramped interior suddenly made Steven feel claustrophobic. He looked at the gems, all of whom had their blindfolds removed. Garnet materialized her familiar silver shades, and gave Steven a comforting smile. It helped make him feel a little better, but they faces of the other gems certainly weren't. Pearl tried to keep her normal calm and collected composer, but he could tell it was just a cover. Her eyes darted from one thing to another, as though trying to see everything at once. Amethyst just looked angry about their situation.

The back of the AAV-7 opened and John and the others stepped out. Steven started to make his way out until a large hand grabbed him by the shoulder. He turned to see the black man from earlier. His uniform read King on the left and Marines on the right.

"Did the captain tell you to exit the vehicle?" King asked.

"No, I didn't think-"

"That's right, you didn't think. You won't be doing much of that here. You do _exactly_ what you are told, and nothing more. As far as we are concerned you are a danger to the people of the United States, and will be treated as such until proven otherwise. Make a wrong move here, or piss someone off you're dead," King said, his tone stern, like Dad's during the few times he would scold Steven.

Steven nodded slowly, showing he understood and looked at his father. The older Universe's was clearly on the verge of a panic attack. His breathing was rapid, and hoarse. Steven reached over and grabbed ahold of his dad's hand, and tried to comfort him. The man looked down and ment his son's gaze with a forced smile. Steven appreciated the effort, but it didn't help him feel better about his dad's situation.

Finally the older guy who John had talked to during the ride came back to the vehicle. There were two Marines behind him with rifles trained on the inside. He motioned for them to step out. The gems went first and Steven followed, with King and his men in tow. Steven covered his eyes, shielding them from the blinding light that was pointed at the vehicles exit. As his eyes adjusted, dozens of figures came into view. The AAV-7 was surrounded on all sides by at least a hundred Marines with guns of all shapes and sizes. The rest of the base was a massive set of helicopter pads, airstrips, and hangars, some of which had been converted into barracks. Around the outside perimeter were several large cannons and concrete structures.

Steven felt scared now, he still didn't get why they were doing this. He and the gems were on their side. It didn't make any sense.

"Step forward slowly with your hands in the air. Make one wrong, fucking, move and I'll turn you into smoke and corpses before you can blink," John said through a megaphone. Steven and the gems compiled. They moved forward towards a small concrete building that John stood in front of. They entered and were led by several to a very old looking massive elevator. It was 25 by 32 feet, and looked as though it was built to transport objects and not people. It moved them down several floors until it finally shuddered to a halt.

The wire mesh doors opened into a large concrete corridor. The walls were lined with steel doors and lit with fluorescent lights. The group walked down the length of the hallway and turned left. They moved down another corridor, passing other Marines, and guys in different uniforms. Infact Steven noticed that none of the other Marines had the same camo as John and his troop. They all wore a much more blocky camouflage, with green, gray, and dark brown.

"Hey how come you have different uniforms than everyone else?" Steven asked.

"You don't need to know," John responded, his tone flat. They stopped in front of another hallway of steel doors. These ones were smaller, with leve in the top to look in. They were cells.

"Why are you imprisoning us? What crime did we commit?" Greg asked.

"I don't have to answer that question. Infact, until your son proves his citizenship, I can keep everyone but you imprisoned indefinitely. But if you cooperate and don't get on my bad side you'll all be let free," John explained. Steven looked at him, confused. Why did he need to prove he was a citizen to get fair treatment. He should be allowed to know what he did wrong. His dad looked as though he wanted to argue, but said nothing.

"Now you two," John said, pointing at Steven and Greg, "will be in that cell there. Stand outside of the cell until I say to enter. The rest of you will occupy cells by yourself. I don't care which ones , but until I know the full extent of your capabilities you will have very limited contact with each other,"

The gems each made their way to a cell and stood, waiting to be told to enter. Steven looked inside the cell he and his Dad would share. It was small, maybe 7 feet wide and 5 feet deep. The walls were completely blank. There was a set of bunk beds on one end and a toilet and sink on the other. Everything looked as though it hadn't been used in years.

"Enter," John said. Steven and the gems did as they were told and stood in the center of the cells, waiting for the door to close.

"You will eat at seven, two, and nine. If you are not awake, or not hungry when you get your food, then you didn't eat. Any form of outside communication devices, such as this," John said, pulling Steven's phone from his pocket. Steven looked in amazement, how had the Marine so effortless pick pocketed him, "are expressly forbidden. Any form of outside media, beyond religious artifacts, is also forbidden. If you are caught with these, or trying to escape, you will be immediately handed over to the GGRCA. I'll come to question each of you personally in about an hour."

With that the door closed, and Steven was again a prisoner. He walked over to the beds and sat on the bottom bunk. His dad sat next to him, and looked as though he was going to say something, but stopped before he did. Instead he just gave his son a hug, which said much more that he could have with words.

* * *

 **Uuuuuuuuuuuugh, there's chapter five, and man I gotta say I'm just not happy with this one. I wanted to have the gems interrogation in this one (some back and forth between them and John would be pretty good), but then the part with Steven and the ride took to long, and the chapter would have ended up being like 10 pages longer. But I made it, and it's here, and I have some bad news. I'm going to CAP Encampment next week, and will not have access to a computer or my phone. After that I'm going to upstate New York, where I might be able to get ahold of a laptop to post, but no guarantees. I know I don't have a huge following, but for those who are I feel bad seeing as this chapter was late and the next couple might be aswell. But on the bright side I'll be going to was is basically a 5 day boot camp, so maybe that will give me some ideas on how to better flesh out John. Also I didn't write another dream sequence with John cause I don't want that to become an over used troupe.**

 **Now on to the explanation of some stuffs. Anyone who knows anything about Quantico know that it doesn't have runways, and helipads, and bunkers. But I made some tweeks. I'm probably going to do a chapter, or maybe whole other story on what I believe the history of the SU universe would be post WW1. But the point is that Quantico was basically beefed up to allow it to one: act as a multi branch training base for the Marines, Navy, and what was then called the Army air corps, and two: to be one of the bases tasked with defending the east coast from German invasion.**

 **I got nothing else but my usual begging for reviews, I do read them and anything is great. Tell me what you do and don't like, and any ideas you might have.**


	6. Chapter 6, We Are The Crystal Gems

**Chapter Six**

 **We Are The Crystal Gems**

Garnet sat on the bed, it's small, straight spring frame creaking. She crossed her legs, and placed her hands, right over left, where her navel would have been. She breathed in slowly, and exhaled. Garnet could feel her two half's were imbalanced. Their recent separation, and reunion wouldn't help them to have a calm conversation, but they couldn't afford to fall apart. The gems were already on edge, and who knows how the Marines stationed here would react to her splitting into two people.

 _Ruby you know why they're doing this._

 **Fine, they've never seen something like us before, and they're afraid. But that doesn't give them the right to threaten us. To imprison us!**

 _No it doesn't make it right, but they are well within their bounds. We are creatures from a completely different galaxy who, as far as they can tell, are the reason for an alien ship appearing. They haven't harmed us, and John doesn't want to hand us over._

 **Fine they can justify their actions. We're still imprisoned, and we still could get taken.**

 _Yes, but if we cooperate and tell them the truth they'll have no reason to keep us prisoner, or to give us to the GGRCA._

 **That's if they don't flip when we tell them the original reason we came to their planet.**

We _didn't have anything to do with the construction of the kindergartens, and we rebelled with Rose against the Diamond Authority._

 **...I'm worried about Steven.**

 _As am I, but worry doesn't change what's happened. All we can do is plan for the future._

Garnet let out a deep sigh, and relaxed herself. Now that both of her sides were in balance she could focus. She closed her two eyes and opened the third. She began to walk the map of fate, seeing its many winding paths. Pasts were the war ended with Roses execution, were Bismuth wasn't lost in the Battle of the Ziggurat, were Europeans never came to North America. She had almost gotten lost in them before, after the war, after the Diamonds terrible weapon. She had never told Rose how close she had come to staying in her mind, watching what could have been, what she wished had been. But these were nothing more than possibilities that hadn't happened.

No what Garnet needed was what could still happen. She saw the gems being forced into trucks by the Marines, or them attempting an escape, only to be gunned down just outside the base's perimeter. But neither of these seemed right. Garnet continued to look through the trails, and pathways of time. Finally she found it, the most probable future. It looked good so far, but she could never be truly sure. Her vision had failed in circumstances like these, due to unknown variables.

Content the gem waited, humming songs to keep her entertained. John would come to get her first. But he would be a while. Minutes ticked by, slowly turning themselves into hours. Finally she heard the metal bar holding the door shut slide open. The gem stood looking at John and the two Marines who entered behind him. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and several documents in the other. He'd changed clothes, now wearing an old army green jacket over a black t-shirt, and jeans.

"We have a lot to talk about," John said, motioning for the gem to step out of the cell. She went, and was greeted by two more blank faced Marines. She was lead down several corridors, until finally they stopped in front of a white office door. John turned the knob and entered, Garnet following behind. The room was small and had only two chairs, a card table, and a large mirror on the left wall. The group of Marines posted on the outside of the room. John sat down at the end nearest to the door, and Garnet sat across from him. He pulled out a small tape recorder and hit record.

* * *

John reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out another Greek cigar. He rolled it slowly between his fingers, before he looked at Garnet, "Mind if I smoke?"

The gem shrugged, and John placed the cigar in his mouth. He reached into his pocket again and pulled out his civilian zippo. It had the Marines eagle, globe, and anchor on one side and a favorite quote of John's on the other. He flipped open the top, flicked the wheel, and lit his cigar. He took a puff, and blew out a small cloud of smoke. He pulled out another cigar and offered it, but Garnet refused.

"Please state your name and age for the record," John said, tapping the end of the cigar in an ashtray. He began filling out the forms for the reason she was being brought in and her information such as race, age, and name. He found that most of the form he could only leave blank or cross out all together.

"Garnet, and I don't remember my age. As gems can live thousands of years we don't really keep track of our age," the gem replied, with a small smile.

"You're saying that your several thousand years old?" John asked, trying to keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Well I am over 5750 years old, but the two gems that make up my fusion, Ruby and Sapphire, are much older," She said causally.

"Okay, would you mind-,"

"Unfusing? Yes I very much would. Well I understand that you wish to hear the truth from all of the Crystal Gems, Sapphire and Ruby recently unfused under rather unfortunate circumstances. I assure you that me unfusing would not provide you with any additional information," Garnet responded. John frowned, and let out sigh.

"Well seeing as how we are soooooo very short on time I could not possibly give less of a fuck if you want to stay as two people. I have roughly four hours to interrogate all of you, and then to present a decently large amount of evidence to my superiors showing that you are in fact not a threat, or you will be handed over to the GGRCA, whether I like it or not. As stupid as this sounds, I'm on your side, and not in the bullshit way cops say to get a confession. I cannot afford to have you handed over to those blacklist a-holes," John said. He looked the gem up and down, trying to get a feel for her. But a brick wall would have given him more body language.

"Why exactly don't you want me handed over?" She asked, her voice emitting actual curiosity.

"Jasper is responsible for the deaths of four of my Marines, the deaths of two National Guard members, and the crippling of another two Marines. I want pay back, and I want answers, and if you are handed over I will get neither. You have clearly been on Earth for quite some time, and you are much more experienced with gem combat than I. You very much not from this planet, and I want to know exactly why you came here, and exactly what you wanted with my home," John said, his voice low. He wanted to look the gem in the eyes, but they were now covered with another pair of silver shades.

"Well eight hours is not nearly enough time to explain the long and strange history of the Crystal Gems or even just my part of it's story, but I can give you the cliffnotes version. I first came to Earth 5753 years ago. Sapphire was a aristocrat in Blue Diamonds court, one of the four members of the Great Diamond Authority. She was summoned to the sky coliseum do to her ability to predict the future,"

"So that's how you knew my name?"

"Yes it is. Sapphire was summon to predict the outcome of the rebellion that had been taking place on Earth against the Diamonds for a few hundred years at that point. Sapphire had a guard of three rubies assigned to protect her, the Ruby that makes up the other half of me being one of them,"

"And how exactly are you made of two people?"

"Through the act and beauty of fusion. It allows gems to join our minds, bodies, and souls into one single being. The new gew will have personality traits and feelings from the gems they are composed of, but they are new and different being. It is the ultimate connection between two gems, and before you ask...yes and no,"

"So are you just f-...you know what... that question can wait. Please continue,"

"Sapphire predicted that the leader of the rebellion, Rose Quartz, and her Pearl, the very same one you have in cell here, would attack and destroy the forms of seven gems, including two of her guard and herself. After this the rebels would be captured the the rebellion ended. As she predicted the rebels appeared, and did exactly as she said. That was however until she was placed in danger at the hands of Pearl. The other two rubies had been reduced to gemstones, but the third had not. As Pearl prepared to strike Ruby jumped forward, and grabbed ahold of Sapphire. This sudden act caused the two to fuse, into me. After that the rebels fled, and I broke apart. Fusing was only to be used to complete a task and nothing more. Cross gem fusion was forbidden, and doing so would result in the shattering of the gems involved. However as it was Ruby who fused with Sapphire, and as Sapphire was a highly prized gem Ruby would be the only one shattered. Sapphire could not except that a gem who had not only prevented her from coming to harm, but also shown her the new and wonderful act of fusion, would be destroyed for doing so. So Sapphire grabbed ahold of Ruby and fled. Eventually we defected to the Crystal Gems and help Rose in her thousand year war against the Diamonds,"

"And since then you have been on Earth. That doesn't however answer the question as to why the other gems came here, or why one of them rebelled against her people. Well it sort of does, a regime that doesn't allow expressions of love and affection is just asking for an insurgency," John said. He had spent the past few hours downing cups of coffee and reading over as many files, combat reports, and classifications he could find on gems. Most were little more than sightings that were dismissed as delusions of a sleepy private, or a wild gem monster that was smart enough to avoid humans, but still spotted. However some were all too familiar, gemstones being sealed in stone or concrete with a small explosive on them. They would then be used as area denial weapons, if the explosive went off the casing cracked, and the gem reformed attacking anything in sight. Others were on their use in the Great War, and even for him the old black and white photos were horrifying. Gem monsters loosed on trenches, and towns. Massive, gaping, inhumane wounds from claws, teeth, and god knows what else. It was no wonder they had been banned for use in warfare by all members of the IPA. But none of them gave him any real info no the Crystal Gems, or the origins of the gems monsters on earth beyond theories, most of them crackpot. The most supported ones concluded that the monsters had originated some 5,000 years ago, and that they were linked to the ships and several old structures around the world.

"The Diamonds intended to turn Earth into a colony for gems by constructing kindergartens to mass produce gems, one before her rebellion in what you call the Keystone state and the other in a sand canyon it Nevada to produce more soldiers for the war effort. Doing so would have resulted in the loss of all organic life on the planet. Rose believed that a life was beautiful, especially humans. Your ingenuity, adaptability, and compassion were one of many reasons that drove her to give up everything for a home here, where she and her fellow gems could be free to live, to love, and to be themselves," Garnet said, a tinge of sadness in her voice. John had picked up that this Rose Quartz was now deceased, but something about her name bugged him.

"This Rose Quartz is no longer with us I assume," John said.

"No, she gave up her physical form to create Steven," Garnet said, as though the revelation that the kid John had detained was half gem wasn't that big of a deal.

"And what did she look like?" John asked.

"She was tall, with long blowing pink hair, a white flowing gown, and her gem-"

"Was were her belly button would have been if she were human," John said in a low, hushed, voice, to quite for Garnet to hear. Maybe he wasn't entering a new realm of crazy were large, pink, gem women appeared in his dreams to tell him to protect people.

" _Some how a dead gem got into my dream and told me to protect her friends. On second thought I am going insane. Either that, or I died on the beach and this slow decent into madness is my version of hell,"_ John thought, trying to make it look as though he wasn't on the verge of having an extensional crisis. John took another sip of his coffee, nearly coughing it up, " _Little less Jack next time,"_

"Okay so Rose Quartz lead a rebellion against the Diamond Authority. Jasper mentioned a Yellow Diamond and you said that Blue Diamond was the one who ordered you to Earth. Would you mind going over what the Diamond Authority is?' John said. He checked his watch, and was not pleased to see that an hour had already passed.

"The Diamond Authority is the group of now three gems who control the government of Homeworld, and all outlying gem colonies. Blue Diamond is the and her court are in charge of the storage of gem knowledge, history, and propaganda. She also controls part of the judicial system and quite a few colonies. Yellow Diamond controls Homeworlds military, law enforcement, and several colonies. White Diamond controls homeworlds scientific progression, and much of the bureaucratic parts of Homeworlds government. They rule through the use of a caste system, were gems are created for a purpose and do that propose without question for the rest of their existence. If you try to go out side of the lines your are placed in, or do anything that defies the Diamonds order, you are removed," Garnet said. John could hear the twinge of anger in her voice, and could blame her. If he had to live under such a power structure for thousands of years just the mention of it would anger him.

"So gems under the Diamonds are seen more as things than people. Tools, and equipment that can be mass produced, fixed when their broken-"

"Or thrown away and replaced if they can't be," Garnet said, cutting the captain off.

"So you won the war, and drove Homeworld off Earth. So where is the rest of the rebellion?" John asked. If what Garnet said about the canyons in Keystone and Nevada was true then thousands, if not millions, of gems had been made on earth to fight the rebels. But even the greatest tactician couldn't stage a thousand year war against a force that size with only four rebels.

"At the end of the war the Diamonds used a weapon that corrupted every gem on Earth, save those that Rose was able to shield. The corrupted gems are the monsters we fight, and that the GGRCA contains," Garnet explained, "The weapon was used without consideration of its effects, and a great many Homeworld gems that were left behind were corrupted. Ever since then we have been hunting the gem creatures, and left over artifacts,subduing, and containing them."

"You mentioned that the Diamond authority is now three gems, what happened to the other one?" John asked.

"The Diamond that ruled this planet, Pink Diamond, was shattered by Rose in order to put an end to the war. Earth was her colony, so as long as she lived Earth would have stayed under her control," Garnet explained. John took another puff of his cigar and processed what he had been told. He then looked at his watch, and saw they were out of time. He hit the stop button on the recorder, stood, and turned to open the door. Garnet stood up behind him and followed him out, back to her cell. John opened the door, and Garnet stepped in. John closed the door and moved to the next cell. He would talk to Pearl next.

John moved to her cell, the other Marines standing behind him. John gripped the metal door lock, and pulled it to the side. The large steel door creaked open, and the ivory gem was standing in the middle of the room, her hands placed on over the other in front of her skirt. Her sky blue eyes meet John's and narrowed. She walked forward confidently, her head high and shoulders back. The group made their way to the same room, and John and Pearl entered. John sat down, placed the recorder on the table and hit record.

"Please state your name and age for the record," John said.

"Pearl, and I am 7,045 years old," the gem said. She sat with her back perfectly straight, hands clasped in her lap, and eyes forward. Her posture was perfect, " _She's a perfectionist, that's something I might be able to play off of,"_ John thought. He also noticed she was looking at his cigar with a rather disgusted look. John tapped the cigar in the ashtray and then snuffed it out, leaving it with the end sticking to one side.

"I recently talked to your company Garnet, and she had quite an interesting lot to tell me. I'll tell you what I told her, I have now two and a half hours to interrogate all of you. I don't want you handed over, because if you are I'll never get my, well let's call it what it is, avengence. But if you don't cooperate and give me the information I ask for, then my superiors will have you handed over regardless. Now why don't we begin with your reason for joining Roses rebellion," John said.

"It was over 6,000 years ago. Rose told me the odds and the outcomes. That if we lost we'd be killed and if we won we could never go home. But I still wanted to go forward with her, she made me feel free. She believed I could be whoever I wanted to be," Pearl said, her voice full of nostalgia. This Rose was sounding a lot like various human rebel or guerrilla leaders. Che Guevara certainly came to mind.

"And you were rebelling against Homeworld because?"

"Because Rose wanted to save this planet, it's life, you. She believe all life was precious and worth protecting. She also believed that all people, human or gem, deserved the ability to express and be themselves, something Homeworld fought so hard to destroy," Pearl said. John nodded and then proceed to go through everything Garnet had told him. Finished and ask Pearl if she had anything she would like to add.

"Garnet covered the basic history of the war, but there is much more I could add," Pearl said.

"Well that's all good and well, but I need you to tell me what you've been doing on Earth since after the war," John said.

"We've been protecting humanity from what Homeworld left behind. The weapon the Diamonds employed at the end of the war because every gem besides us to become corrupted. The weapon changed, and deformed their bodies, turning gems that looked very similar to us into the monsters we now fight. It broke their minds, warping their memories and thoughts into an inescapable madness. We find them, poof, and then bubble them," Pearl said, her voice sad. John could have guessed that a great many of those gems they were now having to contain were once friends, allies, maybe even family.

"So why didn't you ever approach any of the human governmental services that did similar work as you. Before the GGRCA there was the military intelligence division, and the great many platoons and companies trained specifically to hunt down gen creatures. Why did you never make your presence known?" John asked.

"Rose knew that after the war human tribes would try and win the favor of members of the Crystal Gems. She knew that well humans were ingenuitive, and loving, they also were greedy, and power hungry, and that the war had only put strain on the human settlements that already existed. She didn't want us being used to further agendas, or to become the dictatorial peacekeepers of the planet. Rose wanted humans to live as they wish, and knew it was better for us to fade into legend. We wouldn't make ourselves invisible, but we wouldn't try to call attention us," Pearl explained. John knew that what she said made sense. If the gems had been know to humans, then they would have definitely been taken and used to further political, military, or land gains. Humans were capable of a lot of good, but of a lot of bad too. John was a soldier, he had seen both first hand.

"So you became to quite guardians of Earth and humanity, desperately trying to clean up a mess your species had caused. What keeps you protecting Earth?" John asked. He hoped that it was a silly question, but it might not be.

"Earth has become a home for us, as much as it is one for you. It allows us to be who we want to be. Garnet can be an eternal bond of love, I'm not just some object, Amethyst isn't a defective warrior, and Steven...can exist," Pearl said, her voice and eyes far off. John nodded, understanding. Well material gain was the cause of most modern warfare, the ability to live as one pleased tended to make someone much more protective of what they had.

"So what is your rules of engagement per se for dealing with humans?" John asked. He knew that the answer to this question would make or break the gems chances.

"Well as I said we avoided getting involved with human conflicts. The last one we got involved with to any great degree was the American Revolution, but that was mainly defending ourselves from British troops who believed we were natives who hadn't adhered to some deal that the two had made. We defended against the British attackers and both us and the town were safe," Pearl said, matter a factly.

"Why don't we get to what I need, have you ever, without reason, killed a human being?" John said. Pearl paused for a moment, which in most cases would be a bad sign. But given the fact that this was an interstellar being who had lived for thousands of years, and survived a thousand year war, ending the life of one creature could be something that would fade into the background.

"During the battle with the British...we took the lives of several humans. We initially believed that we could subdue the attackers through non-violent or even non-lethal means. But as the men refused to listen to us and attacked. Bayonets, sabers, and hatches were drawn and even though we possess much greater speed and combat skill than most humans, but when you're surrounded by all sides by angry men with sharp objects. Well drastic times call for drastic measures," Pearl said, she eyes and voice sad. John had been lied to before, and knew every trick in the book to get someone to believe a sob story. Pearl looked as though she was truly disturbed by having to kill a human.

"So you did in fact take the life of a human?" John asked. He already knew the answer, but he needed her saying it on tape. If she was straight forward, and confessed then his superiors would take is as a case of self defense, and not murder. John knew that he'd be presenting his case to a group of individuals who believed in safe over sorry, and had long since forgot the lessons of field work. If he didn't present as close as he could get to the full truth of the Crystal Gems, then they would be given over as a precaution.

"Yes i did. We all did that day. We didn't want to, Rose especially. She tried to tell them that we had lived here for centuries, but they wouldn't listen. When they fired at the temple and us, Rose was given no other choice. After the battle Rose just walked into the temple and remained there for days. When she finally came out she didn't look sad, or determined, or like she had received some sort of closer for her actions. She just looked tired," Pearl said. John looked at his watch and saw that an hour and a half had passed. He had testimonies from two of the gems on them being the protectors of humanity, but still needed to talk to the third gem at least. He didn't know about Steven, and given how little time he had John decided he was going to pop in before he had to present what he had found and at least try a give a reason for the kid and his dad's treatment.

John hit the stop button on the recorder and escorted Pearl back to her cell. He closed door and moved to the next concrete chamber. He opened it, and found the purple gem twirling her whip and eating-

"Are you eating the bed?" John asked, as he looked in disbelief as the gem ripped a piece of the metal frame off and chucked it in her mouth. She chewed it and swallowed. She then pulled herself from her relaxed position on what was left of the bed, and made her way towards John.

" **Urrrpb**! Ah, tasty bed you got there," she said with a joking smile. She stood at just above chest level, and sauntered out of the room. Something told John this was going to be interesting.

The group made their way to the same small room, with the card table, and chairs. John sat down, and took a sip of his now very much cold coffee. The jolt of the caffeine told John just how tired he really was. He placed the recorder on the table and hit the button.

"Please state your name and age for the record," John said. He picked his half finish cigar from the ash tray and relit it. He took a long pull and exhaled a cloud of smoke. He looked over at the gem and offered the cigar to her. She paused for a moment and then grabbed it, doing the same as John had.

"My name is Amethyst, and I'm roughly 4,950 years old. I don't know me exact age cause there was anyone around to tell me when I popped out of the ground," the purple gem explained through a puff of smoke. She passed the cigar back to John.

"So you were made after the war? Did Rose set up kindergartens of her own?" John asked.

"No, Rose dreaded the idea of the kindergartens ever becoming functional. I just came out late. Most gems take a few hundred years to incubate and eventually come out of the ground, but I took a little longer. I came out after the war was over, and then Rose found me," Amethyst said with a laid back and relaxed tone. Everything about her said that she didn't care. She sat with her hands behind her head and feet up, looking like she didn't have a care in the world.

"So you've been with the Crystal Gems since they found you, correct?" John asked.

"Yup, hunting down gems beasts, finding cool leftover Homeworld stuff, and saving the day. Kinda like you, but we don't throw people in prison and threaten them after we just helped them," she replied, still looking laid back.

"Well to be fair, you are an alien species that was cited as one of the primary reasons for Jasper coming to my planet, and I haven't given you any sort of inhumane treatment. In fact you've been treated better than most human prisoners that have been kept here in the past," John retorted.

"Well that fills me with confidence that I'll be fine. I'm sure you're just doing this to go through the motions, until you eventually hand us over, right," Amethyst said. John's eyes narrowed and he slowly sipped his coffee.

"Six people are dead because you couldn't save the day," John said. He looked up at the gem and saw that hit home, "Another two will never walk again. I'm not going through the motions, I cannot afford to have you disappeared into some far off place. I want payback for the deaths of my Marines, and if you're gone, my chances of finding Jasper, Peridot, and that other blue gem, are gone with you. Everything you say right now will be played for a jury of seven high ranking military intelligence, and national security officers. If they deem you to be a threat, they will give you to the GGRCA on a silver platter. If they find anything about you to be a danger to the American people, or the people of this Earth you're gone. So please try and make yourself look good,"

The two sat in silence for a few seconds. John took another puff of his cigar filling the room with more smoke. Maybe getting baked before presenting evidence that the aliens who had been living on his planet for the last six thousand years wasn't a good idea. But as long days go John had a pretty long one and this was one of the few things keeping him sane.

"The other blue gem you mentioned, her name is Lapis Lazuli. She's a Homeworld gem that got left behind in a mirror after the war. Her gem was cracked, but Steven fixed it. She went back to Homeworld and probably had to do what we're doing now. She's not like the other Homeworld gems, she not a soldier and her dislike of Earth is more tied to us," Amethyst said.

"And why doesn't she like you now?" John asked.

"When she was stuck in the mirror she was aware, you know. It wasn't like her gem was just a battery. She was aware that she was stuck in there all that time. We didn't know, so we never let her out. That and doing so would have caused her to return to Homeworld, bringing back Homeworld gems to take care of what was left of the rebellion," Amethyst explained.

"When you say she was stuck in the mirror, what do you mean?" John asked.

"Well when a gems physical form takes to much damage they retreat into their gemstone, where they can focus all their time and energy on repairing themselves. But if that gemstone is placed in an object, it prevents the gem from reforming, and that gems energy can be used to power the object," Amethyst said.

"So she was aware that she was stuck in this mirror, and you didn't know?" John said. If the mirror needed a power source, then there must have been something that this gem could have done to communicate it was conscious.

"Rose said that the gem was probably corrupted, and that since it was cracked her healing it might let it free. We had no idea that she could still think and feel. If we had Rose would have never allowed Lapis to stay in there," Amethyst said. John checked his watch and saw they had enough time for a few more questions.

"So you joined the Crystal Gems because they found you?" John asked

"Not just that, Rose believed that everyone deserved a home, and a group of people who cared about, and loved them. Rose made me feel wanted, and safe. When Pearl saw me for the first time and said I was small for a quartz Rose said I was fine the way I am. She didn't care what Homeworld or anybody else wanted me to be like. She just wanted me to be me," Amethyst said, a smile growing on her face. John checked his watch again.

" _Crap, I got 15 minutes,"_ he thought. John stood and motioned for Amethyst to follow him out. They walked back to her cell and she flopped down on the bed, picking up where she'd left off. John closed the door, shaking his head in disbelief as the gem inserted an enter box spring into her mouth. John made his way down the hall to Steven and Greg's cell. He pulled the metal latch holding the door closed and opened it. Inside was an asleep Steven and Greg. Figuring that waking the two to tell them that their chances for not being given up were a little better wouldn't be nice, John closed the door, and made his way to the courtroom.

* * *

 **And there is six. My only regret is that I could've sunk more time into this one, but I actually feel pretty good about it. I managed to get some back and forth with John and the gems, and for those who were a little miffed about John basically arresting the gems last chapter, I hope I made the reason for their treatment clear. If not allow me to explain: First remove everything you know about the gems from your mind. Now put yourself in John's shoes. You have seen several people get horribly murdered before your eyes and the person responsible just got dragged into the ocean by themselves or sort of themselves. The only people there appear to be of the same species as the alien that killed several of your troops. Well their motives were against the invaders, they might not be in your favor either, and taking chances does not get you a 14 year career in field work.**

 **I also have good news, I will have access to a computer in upstate New York, so after my 5 day boot camp I will be fast at work trying to update. I also think I'm really going to stick with this story, and already have a rough plan for the next few chapters. There'll be all kinds of antics and cool missions once John and the gems start actually working together.**

 **Other than that I only have my usual beg for reviews. Anything helps me improve the story, from praise to insults, and all I ask is that if you're going to tear my work down, give reasons why you dislike it.**


	7. Chapter 7 What Now

**Dear fucking Christ I hated this chapter. The whole thing is just like a rehash of season one, but from all either summed up (Becuase I just wanted to get this one done so I could to the next) or told in a boring story inside a story style. I also want to apologize, I know my following isn't big (in fact I'm shocked it didn't shrink) but I didn't post for over three weeks without a word as to why and there's a lot of why, mostly lack of WiFi and motivation. But I'm back! Sort of, school starts in a week and that means two things. One: schools starts….FFFFFFFFFFFFFFUCK! Two: I get a laptop which I can use to write with and make it look as though I'm taking notes. Yahhhh, however this recent bout of writer's block as made me realise something, I can't post weekly for sure every week. I might not have access to a writing station, I might have family matters, I might just not want to, and well I wish a could just push out the story when I don't feel it, doing so just means I'd be pushing out bad writing. I know that some of you will be mad about this and that's fair, but I will try my hardest to stick to posting weekly. To put it bluntly, if I don't feel it then I don't want to force it.**

 **Chapter Seven**

 **What Now**

John walked briskly down the concrete corridors, making his way towards the elevator shaft, greeting his fellow service members as he passed. The long tunnel of blank concrete and steel doors did little to invigorate John. He looked the upper part of Quantico, but it's maze of underground tunnels and barracks were about as interesting as watching paint dry. He'd had seven hours to get medical treatment for his tooth, and jaw, do as much gem related research as he could, and interrogate the gems. Under his arm he held eight identical files, filled with all sorts of field reports, local Beach City newspaper clippings and whatever else he could find to make them look good. Each other the seven board members would get one to read over and he would keep a copy to site. Well he knew that he had a far amount of good evidence for the gems, he was tired, and the board could still hand the gems over as a precaution. Well John new some of the members of the board personally, most had no contact with John. Chances were that the others would want to play it safe.

" _Let's not forget that the judgement of an officer responsible for one of the worst military blunders in recent history will probably be looked down on"_

"Oh shut up," John muttered under his breath. He knew that the loss of his Marines and, lack of sleep wasn't helping his _issues_ , and that he really should see a doctor. But the military had a history of letting go of mentally ill service men. John was built for combat life, he'd had a tough time before the Corps and would probably return to drifting from here to there if he got booted. He could do civilian life, but he'd just die inside, sitting at a desk job, or working some kind of blue collar gig. John needed to make this good or the Marines on that beach would have died for nothing and he'd be back here doing R&R. He would also need to find time to write to the families.

As he continued down the hallway he saw O'Donnell come into view. Behind him was a very angry India woman, whose husband was desperately trying to calm her, and a young girl, maybe eleven. They were flanked on either side by Marine MPs, who were trying not to make it obvious that they were giving the group a wide berth. They were wearing the new digital camo. John preferred the old chocolate chip pattern as it blended in better. As the group drew closer John could begin to make out what the woman was saying.

"DOUGLAS! You Know Good And Well What Their Doing! We're being profiled!" The woman screamed, her hands waving in the air.

"Now Priyanka, you saw that they brought several others in with us and-"

"That's just so they can make it look like they're giving fair treatment! They're going to lock us up, use us like some cheap scapegoat!" She yelled loud enough to cause John to wince. O'Donnell locked eyes with John and let out a sigh of relief. He made his way towards the captain and greeted him.

"I found the girl you asked for, but her mother is beyond reason. I've tried telling her that she and her family are only being brought here for questioning, but she won't stop going on about due process, and the lack of reasonable suspicion," O'Donnell said looking very tired. John hoped that he'd taking a helicopter ride here, because a several hour ride with these two sounded like hell.

"Well I'm on my way to the courtroom to make the gems case, so I'll just have to question them on the way there," John said. At the mention of the gems the girl looked at John with wide eyes. She was wearing a pair of glasses, but they were missing lenses. Her hair was down, and looked very similar to her mother's. She smiled weakly and averted her eyes. John pushed past the arguing adults and knelt before the girl.

"What do you think you're doing?" The mother asked, her voice full of scorn. John ignored her and put forward his hand. The girl took it and shook lightly, still not meeting his gaze.

"I take it you're Connie," John asked. The girl nodded and John let out a sigh of relief, "I'm Captain John C. Cupal, and I am very glad to see you,"

He stood and turned to meet the parents. The mother was wearing a pair of beige khakis, and a long sleeve button shirt. Her hair was parted down the middle of the bangs and the rest flowed down her, just past her shoulders. Her husband was sporting jeans, a tan t-shirt, and a brown bomber jacket. His five o'clock shadow was nearing a small beard, and his hair was black, thick, and, curly.

"I asked you here because your daughter as some form of affiliation with the group known as the Crystal Gems. You're not in trouble, and if all goes well you can leave today, or tomorrow if things go a little longer. I just need your daughter to testify on the behalf of the gems in a military court, you may also be asked to testify if you've had any contact with them," John explained. He could tell that her father was relieved about the news. Connie's mother still looked angry and sceptical.

"And what exactly have they done to get dragged into a courtroom huh?" She asked, her arms crossed and looking at John more like a child she was scolding.

"Well nothing, other than being aliens from who came to Earth thousands of years ago to sap it's natural and organic resources in order to create more of their own species," John said, and couldn't help smile as the woman's eyes went wide, "Now, don't worry, the gems apparently rebelled against their kind to prevent Earth from becoming a wasteland. So I take it you are Mr. and Mrs. Maheswaran?"

"Yes, and call me Doug and this is my wife, Priyanka. We have met Steven's, um, caretakers and would be happy to testify on their behalf, but if they stopped the planet from being destroyed why are they being put on trial?" The man asked bringing his hand forward to shake. John took it, and was surprised at how firm it was.

"Well for one they're gems, in fact they're the only speaking gems who haven't tried to kill us. Second, well I certainly believe that they didn't want the planet destroyed, the deciding jury might not. You guys and anyone else would be an excellent help in keeping them from the GGRCA, who would most likely disappear them to God knows where," John explained. With that he lead them to the courtroom, and explained the rest of the details on the way.

* * *

"Come on, you. Stupid. Clodding. Hatch," Peridot said, as she repeatedly slammed her foot into the exit of the escape pod. Her mission was a bust, she'd lost her ship, lost her escort, and lost her informat. But if she returned to Yellow Diamond empty handed, she'd be shattered for sure. Finally the opening gave way and she half fell, half flew out of the round ball that was once her escape pod. She got up, dusted herself off, and looked around. She was surrounded on all sides by large pieces of yellow, waving, organic, matter. She sighed and opened her log.

"Log date, 1 23 2, I have just crash landed from my ship after it was seized by the rebels know has the Crystal Gems. I appear to have landed in some sort of field covered in a strange organic matter of unknown purpose. I have now lost my ship, escort, and informant, and until I find either a galaxy warp, or another ship, I am stranded. I however must press on and complete my mission for Yellow Diamond. I will attempt to find some form of lodging and directional marker, before making my way to the Prime kindergarten. Peridot out,"

With that Peridot closed her log and made her way towards a primitive structure. She stumbled over several rocks and small, round, organic, pieces, that appeared to come from a larger organic structure. She finally made it to the large structure and was pleased to find it abandoned. She entered, and drew her blaster at the sound of some small life forms scuttering around in the dark. The shelter was old, it outer decorative shell coming off in strands and it's insides filled with old, metal, contraptions, covered in rust.

Peridot sat on the ground and tried to think her next move through. She opened her screen, and saw that she was roughly 600 units from the Prime kindergarten. If she wanted to make it there anytime soon, she'd need to start walking. She got to her feet, and began moving towards her mission.

* * *

The tape clicked off and the room was again filled with the sounds of shuffling and the steady tap of the court reporter's machine has they wrote down what had just played. Before he'd played it, John made clear that his stance was that the gems no be handed over and in fact work with his unit and continue their missions. The board of seven officers who would be the final deciding factor in the gems fate all seemed to be a least leaning John's way. The board consisted of Representatives from the National Guard, Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, GGRCA, and Homeland Security. All but two were either with John or not actively opposing him. General Luke Malcolm, the director of the GGRCA for the North-east coastal region and Lt. General Marietta Godwight, the director of the national guard for that region. Well neither of the two hadn't done anything besides ask the expected questions and raise their various points, they both had reasons for getting rid of the gems. The GGRCA director's motive was obvious, but Gen. Godwight's reason was about the same as John's for wanting to keep the gems. Her son had been the driver of the Stryker ACP that Jasper rammed the fifty through. Had the barrel of the weapon not pinned the 19 year old to his seat, he actually could have made it. She was a grieving mother, thinking emotionally not tactically, and the Crystal Gems where the closest thing she could point a finger at for the death of her son. On the plus side John was close friends with the Marine and Army representatives, Lt. Gen. Marcus Davalos for the Marines and Maj. Gen. Travis Peterson. The two were not however the main ones addressing John or leading the board. As this was a gem related matter that fell to Gen. Malcolm as this was more his area.

"Captain Cupal, you had seven hours to collect evidence on the gems motives and purpose, and what you have given is little more than a basic summary of their actions on Earth in the past thousand years and nostalgia for the now deceased rebel leader Rose. If this were any other case I would tell you to gather more evidence and make a firmer argument," Malcolm said. The man looked like Winston Churchill, but without the charm. His fingers tapped on the table as he tried to figure how he was going to tell John to go fuck himself, "But given the circumstances we have no choice but to move on to the testimonies of your witnesses and then your own. I do hope that you've made more of an effort in that area. Now your first witness is, Larremy… B-Barriga?"

John watched as the lanky teen moved towards the stand and sat down. He ,and really every other witness, couldn't have looked more out of place with his Big Donut uniform and half shaved head. He gave the oath and his basic information to determine that it was really him. For a court short on time John found it increasingly annoying that they had to go through the same procedures of any other trail. There wasn't even a party actively trying to prove the gems to be a danger, just the board who would listen to the evidence presented to them, and be judge, jury, and executioner.

"Larremy, would you mind telling the court when your first interaction with the Crystal Gems was," John asked. Having interrogated the gems John had been chosen as the one to question each of the witnesses. The idea of the interrogator also being both the defense and prosecuting parties was beyond irregular. But to be fair, the most normal thing today had been the helo ride to Beach City.

"First, it's Lars and second the first time I met Steven was when he was maybe nine or ten. He came into the shop with his dad and, just like everyone else, ordered some donuts. His dad had been a customer since long before I worked there, but the two certainly seemed like normal people," Lars said, making a very poor attempt to look cool. He leaned back in the stand, and barely made eye contact.

"And your first contact with the Crystal Gems, or as you may know them Steven's caretakers?"

"Well everyone had seen them around the city plenty. They always showed up when some weird monster would start wrecking the place, but my first real interaction with one of them was a few weeks back. Steven walked in with the tall one, with the afro, I think her name is Granite. Anyway he walked with her well I was changing the coffee. Steven ran up trying to get a high five or something and the coffee went into the air. She jumped in front of Steven before the coffee hit him and it covered her head to toe. Stuff had to have been like 140 degrees easy, but she just flung it off her and the two ordered some donuts. Oh wait, there was a time way before that when the purple one and Steven had just come in and I had gone to take out the trash. I step outside and see that the dumpster was in half, with all the trash spilling out. Sure Steven said sorry, but my butt got stuck cleaning it up," Lars said. John could see just the memory annoyed the kid. If this was any reflection of how he acted well working it was beyond John how he'd managed to keep a job. They continued to go through the various other tales of his interactions with the gems, most of them being about the destruction of property well fighting some monster. John had Lars's co-worker, Sadie brought to the stand and she gave pretty much the same story. She did tell one that certainly raised a few eyebrows about Lars having to take off work due to an injury he faked. Steven stepped in as her co-worker for a few days and then helped her get Lars back with a substance called fire salt. Needless to say she got her pay back, and the Beach City boardwalk got a little bit singed. Next person brought to the stand was Mr. Smiley, the owner of the local amusement park and arcade.

"So when was your first contact with Steven and the gems?" John asked.

"About a year ago, maybe a little more. Steven had been a long time patron, and I was always welcome to new ones. However the gems proved to be little more than trouble. The skinny one wasn't too bad, I honestly think she just didn't get many of the games. The short, purple one was a different story. I spotted her more than once finding "work arounds" for many of the ticket giving games. The tall one seemed fine at the time, until I later learned she was behind the destruction of two of my games," Mr. Smiley and John continued to go over all the various other times he and the gems interacted. Most of them were less than good for the gems case, one of them involved breaking an entire amusement park ride. This was found to be a pretty common thread among most of Beach City's businesses, save for the fry shop who's only real annoyance with Steven and/or the gems is that he would order off menu. That and one time the restaurants mastock, a giant french fry suit, somehow became sentient and began to attack the customers by shoveling large amounts of fries down their throats. On the plus side the monster was defeated by Steven in a way that also raised a few eyebrows. John was down to what he hoped would be an ace in the hole.

Priyanka came to the stand first and gave the oath. She then went through the events of her first meeting the gems, which all started with a rather odd phone call with one of them posing as Steven's mother. For there she described the events of the night, them meeting the gems at dinner who decided to show up as a massive six armed monstrosity. Her husband came to the stand and gave the same story. Both said that after the disaster of a dinner Steven and Connie got the idea that goes through every kid's head, at one point or another, to run away. They also both commented on how they were impressed that Steven's caretakers ran after the bus and picked it up to prevent the two from leaving. Finally Connie stepped to the stand. The testimony of a personal friend of the gems would surely pull anyone who still on off the fence.

"So Connie would you please tell me when you first came into contact with the Crystal Gems," John asked. The girl looked shy, and nervous in the stand with all eyes on her.

"The first time I met Steven was 6 months ago, when Beach City was getting all those Earthquakes. I was reading on the beach. Alone. Steven walked by with a bike and said something. I ignored him because I figured that he was probably talking to someone else or himself, not that many people really talk to me. Anyway he fell over, then ran off, and came back a few minutes later. Well he was walking towards me and then...the cliff above me collapsed and he push me out of the way. But well doing so he kinda made this magical pink bubble. The chuck of rock that was fall just broke apart like a clump of dirt. After that we spent the whole day trying to get out until finally we rolled off the dock and fell in the harbour. We sunk a bit and saw this mass worm down at the seafloor with us. We later found that it was the cause of the quakes. Then the bubble popped and we swam up to the surface. The monster followed and began to chase us. Steven figured out that is was this glow bracelet of mine that the monster wanted. He took it from me and told me to run away from the monster. He then lead it under the old docks on the north side of the beach. The docks collapsed onto it, poofing it. After that me and Steven became best friends," Connie said.

"And you say that Steven, on his own, led this monster through the old supports of the pier to trap and defeated it?" John asked.

"Yes he did," Connie repealed.

"And that he did so without consideration of the danger he was placing himself in and taking you out of?" John asked.

"Yes,"

"Thank you Connie, no further questions," John said, and the small girl moved from the stand back to her parents. John now stood at the center of the courtroom and waited to be told to proceed.

"Captain Cupal we have heard the testimonies of your witnesses, now we will hear your's," Malcolm said. John took a breath and let it out. About three years before he'd been in a similar situation, only with his head on the chopping block.

"As you said earlier I spent the last seven hours compiling evidence of the gems not having hostile intent towards the citizens of the United States and the people of the Earth. I say, despite what others may think," John said, shooting Malcolm a look, "That the Crystal Gems have not only shown that they don't wish harm on human kind, but are infact here to help us. The multiple testimonies of numerous eyewitnesses of the gems, including their youngest member Steven who's is only 13, show them putting their lives at risk for the safety of others. They have been doing so for centuries for the people of Beach City. In fact the 28th copy of the Beach City News Gazette, which was printed July 3rd 1777, has a front page article about the gems defending the city from an attack by the British Navy, who believed the citizens to be harbour in revolutionaries. I will also cite my debriefing as evidence of the gems goal to help humanity, as during my capture, and escape I was helped by the Crystal Gems and most likely would not be standing here now if it weren't for them. However this does not solve the problem of them still being on American soil without anyform of citizenship, or the fact the three gems showed up yesterday with advanced weaponry. The gems who attacked showed no desire what so ever to communicate peacefully with the members of their own species or with myself. Two of them are currently somewhere in the ocean and the third is MIA. Imprisoning the gems definitely would not only be deprecating to finding the whereabouts of the missing Homeworld gems, it would also be a massive cost of time, energy, equipment, manpower, and money. Not to mention that if it ever got out, or rather I should say when it gets out that the United States military decided to lock up the first intelligent alien life we have ever come in contact with when they had one been living on Earth for thousands of years before us, and two had not only been not harming us but actually actively trying to undo the mess that their kind made thousands of years ago it's going to be a PR nightmare of unimaginable proportions."

"So what exactly are you saying Captain? That we should forgo all normal military protocol, and just release the gems without any form of contingency plan?" Malcolm spat.

"No sir, what I am instead proposing is that my company be tasked with working with the gems. We are stationed here a Quantico until further notice, we have just gotten back from Afghanistan and have 6 months leave, I have built something close to a trust with the gems and something that I found very interesting was the cost of most GGRCA missions of this type. The cheapest was the now declassified operation Sun Down in Saigon and the near by villages from January 15th to March 26th 1969, it cost adjusted for inflation $167,432.45 to transport GGRCA agents to the area through commercial airlines to hide the fact that they were coming, provide food, munitions, and housing, pay locals for information regarding the gem creatures we look ing to locate, and then capture them. This report also does not include the cost of the agent's salary, or the cost of transporting the captured gems to off site locations. For reference the deployment of my entire battalion and two others in the Korengal valley for 2 and a half years cost $985,467.69, most of that cost coming from the fact that most of our supplies or reinforcements had to be airlifted. Operation Sun Down consisted of 92 in the field agents and lasted about two and a half months. All I believe would be necessary to support the gems with clean up operations and any to hunt down the Homeworld gems would be a platoon on the ground at all times and a company acting as a quick reaction force. In order to locate Jasper and Lapis Lazuli we would need the cooperation of the Navy and Coast Guard. Locating the remaining Homeworld gem, Peridot, shouldn't be to hard," John said. He Had to stifle a grin when Malcolm shifted in his seat at the mention of the cost of a relatively simple operation. John continued to go through the basics of the plan he had been constructing in the back of his head. He could see some of the board members nodding in agreement with what John said, well others spoke among themselves. Finally the talking died down and Malcolm looked down again on John.

"Captain you have raised a many good points and put forth an interesting strategy. We the jury will take this time to discuss what has been put forth and how to go forward, this courtroom is adjourned," with that Malcolm hit the gavel and the courtroom proceeded to empty. As John walked towards the set of double doors he noticed Connie making her way towards him, with her parents in tow. John stopped just outside the courtroom and waited.

"Captain, how do you think the trail went?" Connie asked, her voice full of worry. Her parents came running from behind to catch up with their daughter.

"About as good as it could have, but if you're asking if the gems are going to kept locked up no, no for much longer anyway," John repealed. A look of relief spread across her face.

"Do you think there's anyway I could see Steven or the gems?" she asked.

"Standard military protocol wouldn't allow it today, sorry. But give me sometime to talk and I'm sure I could arrange a meeting soon," John said. Protocol for dealing with POW's wouldn't allow visitation from anyone other than an officer or their fellow detainees, unless they were given a presidential pardon. With that John bid the Maheswaran's good night as they turned and began to make their way to the DFAC. John checked his watch, it was 8:05. He walked back to his barracks. John decided he'd sleep in the officer barracks tonight. Usually he'd sleep in the regular enlisted barracks to show that he wasn't above his Marine's standards, but tonight he needed real rest.

John pushed open the door and the light for the hallway flooded into the dark room. The small barracks had little in the way of furnishings, a desk was on the wall in front of John with a soft reclining swivel chair, a mini fridge and freezer, a liquor cabinet next to it. On top there were a few glasses neatly stacked, some STANAG magazines an ashtray with a half smoked cigar from earlier and several documents on gem related incidents. Against the far wall, by the window, was a dresser with some socks, scattered .45 ammo and the pieces to a Para 14. Pas the dresser was the closet, stacked with various uniforms and several firearms. Last there was John's bed, a standard issue bunk, referred to in the Marine Corps as a rack. At the head was a night stand with a shelf underneath, packed with books on military history, strategy and battle theory, along with a few titles from Tom Clancy, Mark Twain, and George Hemingway.

John flicked on the light and sat down in the chair. He wheeled over and kicked the door shut. He the scanned his liquor selection, until making a choice, he reached for a small bottle of George Dickle. John poured himself a half glass in an Old Fashioned glass, and some ice, relit his cigar and relaxed. John had been in the states for little less than two days on R&R, and this was the first time the Captain had really gotten to relax. He would enjoy it.

* * *

"Stupid, clodding planet, stupid clodding Crystal Gems, stupid clodding mission," Peridot muttered to herself. Her progress had been slow to say the least. Twice she'd fallen into one of the planet's waterways, and had even been swept down one several units. Now her screen was damaged, and she was wet, but it was nothing she couldn't fix. The screen that was. No fixing was far from the problem, the problem was that it would take time. Sure technically the mission wasn't time specific, but Peridot would have prefered to be done already. The cluster wasn't exactly something that had a set date for emergence, and really could pop up at any point. Not an issue if you had transport, but if you were stuck on the planet that was being ripped apart, you were ripped apart with it. And even if she could leave, going back to the Diamonds empty handed would only land her the same fate.

She sat down on a rock a began to pull apart her limb enhancer. The complex inner circuitry would have caused most other gems to get the assistance of a robinoid or a technician like herself. But to Peridot the rows of wires, and electrodes were like an open book. They had received some water damage and trauma but with a little elbow grease Peridot was sure she could get them back into optimal working condition. She decided that while she was taking care of this to do another log.

"Log date 1 23 2-2, I have spent the last few hours traversing Earth's many _difficult_ terrains. I have been placed off course after I…was swept away by one of the planets many waterways. My positioning system was damaged during the event and I am now undergoing the process of fixing it. It will take me an hour at least, and as the planet is going into is dark cycle I will need to find shelter. Well the atmosphere and surroundings are not terribly hostile, I would rather not test my already poor luck, Peridot out" Peridot said as she continued to poke around in the internals of her arm attachment. She let out a groan as she realised that one of the flux capacitors was completely beyond repair. Not only that, but it was one of the ones necessary for the operation of her blast cannon. It would need to be replaced, and the only way she could get one was by salvaging it from one of her other limb enhancers.

With a heavy sigh of annoyance, Peridot removed her right legs limb enhancer and set it on the ground in front of her. She then enabled the leverage applicator on her right index finger. The tip of the small, yellow, rod flattened and now had the shape of a screwdriver. With here left arm extension on the ground beside her, her left hand was free. She felt along the surface of the leg peice, looking for the small seam. Her leg modules were new, and much less modified to her specifically, but it would contain all the necessary components.

"Ah, there you are," Peridot said, her fingers over the small seam where the panel was. She inserted her leverage applicator and began to pry upwards until the panel popped off. Again the inside was filled with a complex circuitry of electrodes and power directors. Near the bottom of the panel where two rows of what looked like rounded, fat, Christmas lights. The flux capacitors main purpose was to direct and control the flow of power for the inner workings of the equipment. For the leg pieces they did little more than make sure that the few gadgets in there didn't get over charged and malfunction. Removing one wouldn't help the piece of equipment but it wouldn't kill it either.

The small piece came out with a satisfying pop, and was inserted into the plug where the previous one had broken. Peridot closed the panels on both of the limb enhancers and reattached them. She then activated the blast cannon. Peridot took aim at one of the many organic structures that dotted the area around her and fired. It had been quite a time since the technician had used the offensive augment and the recoil threw her shot off by several feet. The bolt of energy zoomed off into the woods and Peridot regained her balance. She took aim again and this time the sparking, ball of green energy ripped through the largest mass of organic matter on the structure and engulfed it in flames. Peridot blinked in surprise. She'd seen things burn before, but this was different. The entirety of the base of the mass of cells was now covered in long, flowing, tongues of orange and red flame, and the smell in produced was also of note. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't acrid, or sour like the odors that other burning matter, such as iron, pure carbon, or sulfur, produced. Earth was interesting indeed.

However Peridot still had a job. She opened her directional finder and began moving once again in the direction of her goal. Well she walked towards the prime kindergarten she respond her now functional data screen and began to read over the numerous logs she'd downloaded, about the area around the kindergarten. All of them described it as a large, artificially made canyon. It had numerous facilities in it for the purpose of running fusion experiments, combat simulations, and gem diagnostics. Most of the facilities would be destroyed or rendered inoperable, but that did little to worry the technician. No she was looking for one in particular.

* * *

 **And there it is, chapter seven. I will say, despite underly hating writing this chapter I'm glad I did. So many time during it I just wanted to write: And then the trail happened and everything was fine. Hooray! But that's a just lazy in everyway, shape, and form. Also just before I put this out I noticed that I've gotten over a thousand views. Holy Fuck! That's awesome! Well I know that only a fraction of those people followed or favorited or left a review (and thank you to those who do really) it still is so cool that a story I had been bouncing around in my head for few months and finally started to work one got the attention of a thousand people. Also a quick side note, a guest review said to quote: "** **I hope you can make it as gray story as possible"** **at this point I assume that this person will probably not read this and am 90% sure that this is a type-o and they meant great as possible, but some clarification would be nice. Other than that I a can say is that I'll be putting out the next chapter sooner than I did this one, will just ask for more reviews. All I ask is that if you're going to tear my writing to shreds, you at least say why you disliked it. See you soon.**


	8. Chapter 8 No Hard Feelings

**Chapter Eight**

 **No Hard Feelings**

 **Quick sum up, the events of this chapter take place two weeks after the last. I sped up time because the actual processes of a military court proceeding like this one is mostly paperwork, guys talking around a round table, and a lot of bureaucracy. (Not to mention it would take waaaaay longer in a real life situation like this. But fast forwarding like 2 years means that there's two years for the cluster to emerge, and two whole years of most of this chapter and the last one, sooooo yeah.) If there is an extreme outcry fo me to include this in the story I will, but it's going to be a chapter of mostly checks and balances, trying to figure out how funds, troops, training, and so on would be secured and other such things. I also may actually type up a copy of what the Beach City accords would be, but that is a maybe for right now.**

Steven woke up and rubbed his face. He turned to the wall behind him and added another mark. He hadn't been counting days, just the amount of times he woke up and then went back to sleep. Four at this point. Steven had weird dreams the this time, fire, and smoke everywhere. Almost like a nightmare, but he felt like they weren't his. But he just shrugged them off and waited for the two trays of food to be slid under the door. Steven had no way to tell time or what day it was, but he figured they'd been here for two maybe three weeks.

Steven looked behind him at the still sleeping figure of his dad. He decided he'd wake him once breakfast arrived. The food wasn't great, in fact Steven hadn't had worse food in his life, but with nothing else to do or eat Steven found himself shoveling it down. He walked over to the sink and turned the water on. After washing his hands and using the toothbrush he'd been provided Steven splashed some water on his face and walked back to the door. Steven sat and waited, something he would be doing a lot of today, and probably every other day he was here. Well the boy knew he'd been detained for less than a month, the fact that he'd had zero outside contact with the world and his current treatment did little to make him hopeful of a release.

"Dumb Steven, trusting those army guys just to have them turn around and do this," Steven muttered to himself. He heard the sounds of footsteps on the concrete, and the panels being opened for food trays to be slid under the door. Maybe it was just his imagination, but the sounds of the panels being lifted was different. Finally the footsteps stopped at his door. Steven's stomach growled in anticipation. Then the door opened. Steven had to put his hand up to cover his eyes from the fluorescent lights. When he dropped his hand he saw Captain Cupal, the gems and-

"Connie!" Steven said with surprise. She rushed forward and embraced Steven in a hug. At the same time Steven's father woke up with a start, hitting his head on the top bunk and then falling out.

"Ah," Greg said rubbing his head, "Could you keep it down Shtoo-Ball"

"Sorry Dad, Connie's here and I got excited. How did they let you down here?" Steven asked.

"That might be a question better for John to answer," Connie said and gestured to the Marine. Steven at this point noticed two Marines standing behind John with trays full of something that smelled great.

"Well first I would like to formally apologize for your treatment, it's simply standard procedure when dealing with anyone who may pose a threat to American citizens, military personnel, or interests. We simply didn't know your allegiance at the time and didn't want to take chances. As for how Connie got here, I thought that getting to see some friends would be nice after two weeks in a small concrete room," John said. He motioned for the Marines to step into the room. The trays they were carrying had bacon, scrambled eggs, waffles, pancakes, sausage, and a cup of coffee, with a side of cream, sugar, butter, and syrup. The trays were set down and the two Universes began to dig in.

"Yom knownm, yom could hav asted us o's sid we her on," Steven said, in between bites of food.

"And you could have lied," John replied, "Anyway, for the past two days I and several other people, along with the gems, have been constructing a plan of sorts to allow us to better work together,"

"OH Cool! So you're going to be like us catching gem monsters and finding old artifacts?" Steven said wide eyed. He had always kind of wondered why the gems had never asked for outside help from humans, " _Probably cause we're so awesome,"_ Steven thought.

"Well yes, but actually working with you to do such things. Well the Marine Corps and the other branches of the military have vast amounts of resources at our disposal, you guys," John said looking back at the gems, "Have much more experience in these matters, and we'd be stupid to just go it alone."

Steven thought briefly about this and then exclaimed loudly, with excitement. He had to hold back a laugh as John hopped back a bit in surprise. " _I knew that they couldn't be bad guys,"_

John straightened himself and said, "Right, however before this takes alliance takes place you'll need to look over and sign several documents. The gems have stated many times that-"

"Without you on board, we wouldn't sign," Garnet said, cutting him off.

"Yes that," John said, shooting a look at Garnet, who only shrugged in response.

Steven looked at Connie with his some-one-said-a-word-I-don't-know look.

"An alliance is like a friendship, but one that is written up like a contract" Connie said. Now things were back to not making sense. If John had an agreement that would have made him friends with Steven and the gems, why didn't they sign?

"Woah, hold on a minute," Greg said standing up, "As Steven's father don't I get a say in whether or not my son gets to work with the military?"

"Of course Mr. Universe, a copy of the Beach City accords has been written up for you to look over and sign. Not to mention that if Steven were to become injured during one of his missions with us we'd need any medical information to be able to properly treat him. I figured that the two of you could look it over after breakfast, a walk around the base to stretch your legs, and some time to contact anyone one who would want to know where you are,"

"Well that's nice to hear, how about a walk around, um...where are we again?" Greg asked.

"We are currently on sub-level 7 of 16 of the United States Marine Corps Joint branch training base, Quantico. We're about 120 miles from Beach City, and I have been given on base leave to give you guys the tour, and answer any questions you may have about the base, the agreement, or myself. But if you want you are welcome to finish your breakfast first and then come up and see the sun" John said. That sounded fine to Steven, so he and his dad sat down to finish the breakfast before the syrup turned the waffles and pancakes into a sugary paste. Steven also spent this time catching up on what had taken place during the three days he'd been away from Beach City. He was happily surprised to learn that several Marine and National guard companies had spent the last few days clearing the debris from the beach and fixing any damaged property.

Steven and Greg finished their food and handed their trays back to the Marines. John then led the group down the same set of corridors and hallways, until they reached the elevator. John stepped in and pressed a button that read: SURFACE. The elevator shuddered and began to rise. The speed at which it went up did little to help Stevens anxiety of it falling. He jumped a little when he felt Connie squeeze his hand for comfort. Now he couldn't help but blush.

Finally the cart stopped and the doors opened. Steven was again blinded by the rush of light. His eyes adjusted and he looked out at the massive military complex that sprawled out before him. A large group of people jogged by as a rather scary looking man was yelling at them with some choice language to go faster. John stepped out a motioned for them to follow.

"Welcome to USMC Joint-Branch training center Quantico," John said with a smile. Steven hadn't really gotten time to take in the shear size of the base last time he was above ground, and he had to admit, it was a sight. All around him where men and women rushing from here to there, doing exercises, marching, doing vehicle maintenance, and all of them looked as though they did so with a great amount of purpose. And the complex itself was massive, the entirety of it dotted with buildings of every shape and size. As The group began to walk down the length of the base several Marines and other service members passed by, each giving John a salute which he returned. A few even greeted Steven and gems.

"We are currently walking past the first airstrip built on Quantico in 1910 to act as a landing platform for Army airships. When the Great war broke out in Europe the base, as did much of the United States military, saw a rapid modernization program. The strip had fallen into disrepair, as airships tended to land farther up north and did not require a perfectly flat surface to take off that airplanes did. This modernization did not stop at the airstrip however, in 1919 with the threat of German invasion from Atlantic now a viable threat the base underwent another series of major upgrades to prevent a landing at D.C. from the potomac," John continued to go on about the history of the base and the reasons that a cannon was still there, or why a certain area of the base hadn't been fixed. He reminded Steven of Pearl when ever she started talking about some piece of gem history. It was interesting, but it was also a lot to take in at once, and Steven really had to think if this was information he'd ever use.

" _Maybe I could tell Lar's or something,"_ Steven thought to himself. He let his gaze sweep over the harbor they were walking by. The potomac was calm, but water still sprayed up onto the walkway by the river. The sun shine bright, with few clouds in the sky. It was mild out, and it would get warmer during the day. It was a lovely day.

* * *

It was cold, dark, and for the most part silent. Every once in awhile the fusion would stir, half of it violently trying to escape the freezing waters that trapped it, well the other would pull it back down to the ocean floor. It had gone on like this for days now, the two gems that made up Malachite were far from exhausted.

 _Why? Why give up your home, your diamond, for those traitors?_ Jasper asked again. The fusion had been a very different experience for the veteran. She had now idea just how powerful the Lazuli was, or how broken. The moment their minds came into one she could feel all of it. The centuries upon centuries of loss, hopelessness, and abandonment, and the sheer hate that came with them. A hate of everything that had caused her to be trapped here for those thousands of years.

As usual Jasper received no verbal response, only another crushing tidal wave of emotions, some good, but many more dark. The one shining glimmer of happiness in the mess of anger, hate, and bitterness was the one thing that Jasper couldn't despise more. Rose, the queen of the traitors. Because she had helped Lapis she had had now gained her allegiance, or at the very least not made her an enemy. As long as she was trapped down here Rose continued to live, plotting her next move.

" _You know they'll come for us,"_ Jasper said. This time it was different, only silence followed. Then she spoke.

" _So what if they do"_

" _You think you're some big hero don't you? Trapping me all the way down here to keep dear old Rose safe?"_ Jasper said. If she could break the other gems focus, just for a second, she could be free. Maybe even take control of their new form. She new it contained immense power. Easily enough to destroy what remained of Roses forces.

" _I not a hero, but I'm not letting you hurt Steven,"_

" _You mean Rose,"_

" _No. Steven,"_

" _Rose,"_

" _Ssssteven,"_

" _ROSE,"_ Jasper screamed, and made her move. The brief break in the blue gem's concentration was all she needed, now Malachite was her's. She kept the other gem a bay with a bombardment of emotions of her w\own. The feelings of hate towards the Crystal gems and this planet. The emptiness of never having been this close to anyone. The loss of her Diamond. For a few fleeting second Jasper felt all of what the form had to offer, it's strength was beyond measure. She could feel each and every molecule of water, and knew that all of them were at her command. The power of the world's oceans surging through her was incredible.

And then it was gone. She could see Earth's star, what the humans had named the sun, through the murky depths. Maybe twenty yards and she would have been free from the oceans grasp, free to break what was left of the Lapis and exact her revenge on the Crystal gems. Free to avenge Pink Diamond. But then she felt it, small at first, but growing in presence. The water began to move, then flow, then surge until it was little more than a mess of white bubbles surrounding her.

" _YOU. WILL. NOT. LEAVE."_

Then she was pulled down, down, down, into the dark abyss. Wave after wave of sheer hate hit her and then it was quite.

" _Now you will know how it feels to be alone for those thousands of years,"_

With that the world went black. Jasper didn't understand. She didn't know a lot about fusion, but form what she'd learned from comrades and capture rebels during the war told her that this wasn't possible. She Knew she was still fused, still apart of the destructive monster she'd created. But she couldn't feel it. All around her it was nothing but darkness. How had Lapis managed to do this? Jasper was alone. At first it was nothing, just boredom. But gems, like humans, are social creatures. Isolation like this began to form cracks. Jasper knew that it was only darkness, but she would see movement flicker, a sound emit, a flash of that cursed pink quartz.

It had to have been months, if not years at this point. But some part of her felt it had only been a few minutes, or maybe hours. Wait no it had to have been at least a week right? With no reference for time jasper slowly descended further into madness, screaming at the flickers of shadow that could only be Rose. She'd never fused in the first place. No this was all just some sick, twisted, torture designed to break her, and it was working.

Jasper was falling apart at the seams, losing herself in this continuous maze of irrational, and sporadic thought. It was only a matter of time. She had failed her Diamond now would fail again. Then it ended. The darkness slipped away and she was once again part of the fusion. Part of Malachite. Part of Lapis.

" _That was only a week, one week of total a complete seclusion from the world. Try to take control again, and I will never let you out,"_

Jasper knew the threat wasn't empty...or was it. The blue gem sounded and felt tired. Blocking any form of outside feeling must have taken a massive toll on the gem. Jasper would only need to bide her time, and some day soon she could use the abomination she'd made to rid the galaxy of those traitors.

* * *

"Now if you'll turn to Page 86, and move to section 9, specifically 9.6 there is another area of the Beach City-" John had to struggle to stay awake as the Navy treaties and international agreements lawyer went through the various pieces of the agreement that Steven and the gems would be required to sign. He'd pleaded with the board to let him explain to the Universes what the treaty entailed, but he'd been turned down every time. The biggest argument had been that John was not even close to an expert on treaties or their various inner works and that a professional would be better suited. John knew why they, or rather Malcolm, had pushed so hard for this. The lawyer was only doing his job, but both Steven and Greg looked at a complete loss as to what he was talking about. The

Malcolm wanted someone to explain the various ramifications and legal terms of such an agreement to confuse the gems or the universes. John knew that the director still hadn't given up on getting the gems into GGRCA custody, and that a legally binding document with very hard to understand or vague wording could easily allow him to step in and take the gems for "the safety of the American people." John had spent most of his free time the past two weeks finding whatever he could on gem culture, history, theories, and any military operations associated with anything gem related. Most of what he found was scrambled, poorly written, or poorly translated early great war documents on the use of gem creatures in warfare. However what was able to dig up on GGRCA operations was quite revealing. A number of missions the took place during the vietnam and Soviet-Afghan war were for the testing of various gem based, or powered weapons. A few even detailed their use against suspected Viet Cong fighters.

As John flipped through the 221 page booklet, for the uptieth time, he rested on page 43. He despised it with a passion. Under circumstances where he wasn't afraid that one of his superiors would remove his only chance at revenge and where the people he'd need to obtain that revenge weren't actually good people he would agree with this section of the treaty. But those were not the circumstances he was working under. The section basically stated that if the Crystal Gems where to break any part of the treaty without good reason, they'd be handed over. Like most good treaties this one was full of ambiguous terms and for good reason was the best example John could think of.

" _Well at the very least I can try to keep they within the guidelines of it until section 2.1 expires,"_ John thought. Section 2.1 was yet another part he hated. It said that the gems and John's company would have a GGRCA task force to "work with and act as oversight" for three months or until the board was confident that they would no longer be needed. After two weeks of nothing but checks and balances, paper work and desperately pushing to have as little GGRCA oversight as possible John just wanted to get this over with. Every second they sat in this room discussing a treaty that should have been written up and signed already Jasper and Lapis became less stable and Peridot got closer to completing what ever mission she had. Man he hated bureaucracy.

He looked over to see Steven in the same position as him, almost slumped over with his eyes half open. John reached over and give the kid a shake. Steven opened his eyes and smiled weakly back at the officer. John had learned a lot about the young boy in the past two weeks from the gems, locals, and whatever he could dig up. One thing he found to be very interesting was that Steven had been "home schooled" and never entered any form of schooling institution. Having grown up in in poverty John knew the value of an education.

John leaned back and stretched with a grunt. After two whole weeks of nothing but board room meetings and talks of finance he wanted to get back into. Soon, so very soon, John would come face to face with the killer of his Marines. John wasn't new to losing people, no one had a career as long as his and didn't see friends die. But even the Rusul Allah would allow the Marines to collect and honor their dead. To grieve, but now those families wouldn't even have a body. John would tell them that it would be better if the casket remained closed as not the start the waterworks, but the real reason was that two of the fatalities had been destroyed and that their coffins would be filled with sand and their dog tags. Know one wants to tell a parent that their child has died, but much less tell them they couldn't get the body.

John sighed, he still had letters to write. Many other commanders would either let public affairs handle sending letters or have a couple prewritten that they could just send. John never did that. When he could he would go to the family himself, more than once he'd been thrown out or just had the door slammed in his face, especially after Kul Mal. But he knew that it was better to here your child, or spouse's last moments from someone who worked, fought, and trained with them. He from experience, he still remembered the look on his dad's when the paramedics told him she wouldn't make it. It wasn't sad, or angry, or dark. His face was just that of a tired man, who wanted to close his eyes and give up. He remembered now Antonio's face when he came to the door to tell him about his brother. John had to stifle a tear. It'd been over 25 years, but it still hurt.

With another sigh John cleared his head and brought himself back to the present. He jumped a little when he felt a hand on his and looked to see Steven staring at him with a confused and worried expression. The kid's face said simply: _Are you okay?_ John simply gave a nod back and with drew his hand. The kid was sweet, but he need to learn the meaning of personal space. John chuckled under his breath, remembering earlier when Steven tried to hug all of the Marines who'd help evacuate Beach City.

"Now we will go onto the mutual assistance section or section 9. I t states that both parties involved are held to protect and defend one-another against any enemy force, with whatever force deemed necessary. However you gem weapons have not yet been looked at to see if they violate any international agreement having to do with humane weaponry," John always found it ironic that there were treaties banning weapons in warfare that were deemed inhumane. The whole bloody act was inhumane," This treaty also extends to the members of the International Peacekeeping Alliance that have signed on. These member states as of now include, France, the UK, Germany, Korea, and the Democratic state of Japan. That said these states that have sighed have also pledged their mutual support of any operations this aptly named Crystal Expeditionary Unit under takes. This support includes, but is not limited to, combat troops, transport, medical support, food and shelter provisions and intelligence related to any mission this unit is undertaking.

It went on like this for several more hours, with a few short breaks in between. John was on one such break now, enjoying another greek cigar well looking out over the bay and airfield of Quantico. The night was mild, and the moon was almost full. He exhaled and watched the smoke dance in the air in front of him. He heard footsteps behind him and turned to see the gems standing there. John looked them over and deemed that they had no hostile intent. John still didn't fully trust the gems, and probably wouldn't for some time, but to be fair he never really trusted anyone. John turned around and continued to smoke, well looking out over the calm tide of the Potomac.

"You think you could let me have one of those," Amethyst said, leaning on the railing next to John. He shrugged and began to pass the cigar her way before Pearl slapped his hand. John looked back at her and said, "Is there a problem officer?"

"Yes, Amethyst told me you let her use one of those _things_ ," Pearl said curling her nose in distaste, " And I won't have you or her being a bad influence for Steven."

"Well one if she's been living with him for the past 13 years she's had plenty of time to be a bad influence. Two she's a grown, uh, gem and can make her own decisions. Three whether or not I smoke will have little effect on whether Steven does. You live in a beach side town, half the population is stoners. Fourth, what do you actually want, cause I know that the three of you didn't show up to have Amethyst reach for my cigar," John said passing it to her, and chuckling internally at Pearl's look of annoyance, " and then for you to say she couldn't have it."

"We need to talk about our agreement," Pearl said, looking as though she wanted to say something but didn't know how.

"We don't want an agreement," Garnet said flatly.

" _Great this again,"_ John thought. For the past two weeks John had gotten a lot of reasons why the whole gem hunt thing should be left to gems. John and them along with anyone else who had something to say went back a forth, with John's biggest argument being that he'd gone toe to toe with Jasper for little more than 2 minutes on his own, well the Gems were completely knocked out in the same amount of time. Pearl at this point had accepted that human intervention was happening no matter what, and Amethyst couldn't really care much one way or another so long as she qoute: "got to eat and punch stuff" Garnet however was not budging. He' d asked the other gems about way she continued to be so stubborn and Pearl explained it had to do with the gems that made her up, Ruby and Sapphire. He sighed and reached back for his cigar. When he got it back he could only look in amazement at the fact that in was almost halfway gone, and he'd just started it. He heard Amethyst let out a breath and for a second couldn't see.

"Look we've been over this already, it's not my call and if it was it'd be a no. Six people are dead, and I and the American public will not stand by and let a group of alien refugees be the ones bringing the culprit in or down," John said.

"What Garnet meant to say is we want to change the agreement," Pearl said.

"No I didn't"

"Okay what do you want to change?" John asked. He both understood and didn't get why the gems were coming to him with this. On the one hand he was the person they'd had the most contact with and the most time to build a relationship with. On the other he'd told them multiple times to go to the broad with any changes they wanted to make.

"We want the removal of a certain protocol," Pearl said. Geez he wished she'd get on with it.

"We want the shatter protocol gone," Garnet said. John knew this was coming and he knew it would be hard to explain why they couldn't get rid of it without them coming back with all sorts of rebuttals but it was staying.

"Look as much as I would love it if we lived in a perfect world where such measures wouldn't necessary, it is. If we go up against a foe that is stronger than we can face we need to be able to properly defend ourselves. Jasper had her arm ripped off by a 105mm armour piercing round, got shot multiple times in the chest, back and head, and survived an impact from space without a protective bubble, all without poofing once. What happens when Homeworld sends another ship of soldiers like her and I'm losing Marines because you don't want to _kill_ your enemy. I'm' not saying that it's right, or that it doesn't suck, but you know as well as I do that desperate times call for desperate measures," Pearl looked like she was about object, but John cut he off saying, "I also find it very hard to believe that during a thousand year war neither of you shattered a single opponent in combat. If there was reason for it then, there very well could be reason for it now,"

Garnet and Pearl both gave each other a look and were silent. Amethyst looked as though she wanted to object, but said nothing. With that John returned to his cigar and the gems walked off. John finished his cigar and flicked the end into an ashtray next to the walkway. As he made his way back towards the boardroom he saw Greg walking towards him. John stopped and meant the man.

"Captain, wanted to talk to you about some of the things that weren't covered in the treaty," Greg said, carrying his copy of the accords. Some clothes had been brought for both the Universes, and with his ripped jeans, long hair, and pink floyd t-shirt the man definitely had the faded rockstar look.

"Please it's John, what's up?" John asked.

"Okay John, it says here that if Steven keeps working with the Marines and shows promise that you would pay for his collage. My son has never gone to an actual school and me and the gems haven't really been on top of his schooling, is there any program that could prepare him for that if that's where he wants to go?" Greg asked.

"Well I had to attend college and earn my bachelor's degree before I could be an officer, and I didn't attendant a day of school until I was about 15. It wasn't easy but neither was living out of a station wagon and drifting from job to job to get enough money for food that night," John said. He remembered that old station wagon. It was broken down when he and his brother David found it, but the doors sealed keeping most of the cold out and over the course of a year and a half they managed to get it working.

"Geez, rough childhood?" Greg said.

"Yeah, me and my older brother ran away from home when I was 8. My dad had turned into an abusive drunk after my mom passed," John said. Such stories were all too common in the military, maybe that was why he'd joined.

"I'm sorry to hear that, you still talk to you brother?" Greg asked, putting a hand on John shoulder.

"No…he...he's somewhere else. I talk but never get a response. I should probably see if my little sis is still around though. We couldn't take her, she was only just 3 when left, but dad never hit her. She looked so much like mom, I don't think he would have ever thought of it," John said. It'd been a time since he'd let stuff like this out. He'd told people like King, and O'Donnell but that'd been a time ago and it was nice to just talk it over again.

"Well, it sounds like you've had a tough time, but there's something else I wanted to ask you. I know enough about the military and Steven to know that he's probably going to get hazed by the others. I don't want you to be his guardian angel or anything but if you could look out for him, with the other Marines and when you're on missions," Greg said. John nodded, he'd already planned on looking out for the kid so his dad asking was just more reason to do so. With that John and Greg walked back to the board room to finish going over what remained of the treaty and sign.

 **So the forward to this chapter was written a whole three weeks ago, but I actually did enjoy writing this chapter. It was challenging trying to give just enough of John's backstory without making it seem forced or cheesy, well also trying to make the chapter legitimately interesting. I feel that I got down pretty well what Lapis and Jaspers interactions would be like, but that was yet another one of the challenges of writing this chapter. I am at work on the next one, and hope to be posting again soon. Sorry for the length between upload times, but I'm taking two AP courses, an Honor course, and retaking chemistry so finding time to write is difficult to say the least. Also I know understand what a gray story is, and yes absolutely. I really do want to make this a story that reflects that in a reality everyone is just another person out for themselves and their people. No one is all good, or all bad, and everything they do happens for a reason. The reason behind why they do it may not be good or just but it exists. As usual my beg for reviews, comment, critiques, and so on.**


	9. Chapter 9 Catch And Release

**Okay so first things first I need to answer some questions. A few people asked if I was going to stick with the main story or go off on my own path, and as of now a little of both. I'm going to stick to the cannon as much as possible, as it makes a lot of things a lot easier, but I'm also not going to do every single episode because some are just not necessary to the plot of this story. Also some people asked questions that I would love to answer, but would contain spoilers for the rest of the story. I will answer them so if you want nothing spoiled don't read the slanted, red text.** _I've bounced back and forth the idea of Connie and Steven getting some form of military training and right now I think so. It seems pretty silly that John would just be perfectly fine with Steven, and eventually Connie, coming on missions without any idea how to effectively use the Marine's weapons should the need arise. Yes Pearl is still going to train them, I have a whole arc planned for that, but John will inevitably given them some form of training. I am also aware that the episode where Connie starts training with Pearl happened before the episode that takes place in this chapter, but hey. As to gems using guns, eh. I think that I might have them take interest in it, but it would be over 9000 levels of stupid to completely replace their summoned weapons (which are designed to deal with gem threats) with guns. It just seems really out of character for all of them to say: "Hey you know what, fuck these weapons that are literally conjured from our very being and move on to these other weapons which we have no formal training what so ever"_ **Now back to non spoiler stuff. Well what was typed isn't anything like how a character dies or something some people really don't want any information beyond what's there to read. I also ask that people who have such questions and are not signed in or don't have an account to either: sign in or get an account, (It's not that hard) or PM me if you can. I also might, as other authors I've read considered or have done, change the rating to mature. I'm new to actually writing on this site, and have no real idea how serious the mods are and would really like to avoid my story being taken down. However I don't want to restrict my audience, so opinions on the matter would be greatly appreciated. With that on to the chapter.**

* * *

 **Chapter Nine**

 **Catch and Release**

The past two weeks had been nothing but an uphill struggle for the technician. She had need to make repairs to her limb enhancers on more than one occasion, had been chased by animals, and attacked by humans. But she was close now. Just a little more than 10 units and she would reach what remained of the prime kindergarten. Then it would be a simple quick check up on the fusion experiments. Soon her mission would complete and she could work on finding a way off this stupid rock. The second part would probably be even more of a challenge, but at least she could start moving in that direction. Her simple mission had gone for easy in and out, to almost impossibly hard. She still hadn't figured how or even if she was going to get Jasper back. But those were thoughts for another time, now she needed all her focus on her work.

Peridot climbed to the top of yet another hill and saw it. The prime kindergarten stretched out before her. She could even see some of the injector drills lying about in the large canyon that made up the the once fertile crescent of this corner of the Diamonds great empire. The areas surrounding it, for about half a mile, was void of any of the organic structures that she had passed so many times well making her way to the there. Just on the edge there was a massively dense population of many different types of organic structures which (as far as she could tell) served no purpose.

Over the course of an hour Peridot made her way down to the now abandoned gem production center. She entered the canyon directly, having no reason to hide, even if the Crystal Gems and the human managed to survive the crash Jasper would have as well. But still, the kindergarten gave off this air of loss and destitution. Well not easily frightened the technician had to admit that the place certainly seemed erie. The air was cold, thick, and heavy, the cliff walls covered in gem emergence holes. They seemed to almost shift into faces and each one could hold a potential attacker. Injectors now sat old, rusted, and abandoned. The only sounds were the echo her own footsteps and the occasional scurry of some small Earth creature or the creak of one of the injectors.

" _What could have caused the Diamonds to abandon a place like this,"_ She thought to herself, kindergartens were her purpose after all. The canyon looked to be natural, but severally altered to better allow consistent and effective gem production. The walls of the canyon were a soft, resource rich stone. It was easy to dig into on the surface, but hardened the more you pushed. But this mattered little now, the kindergartener Peridot found herself once again looking for a small seam on the surface of a structure.

"Where are you, stupid door," Peridot muttered to herself. She'd been doing that alot lately. Once back at Homeworld she would need to have a medical robinoid check her mental status. Finally she found it, a small, dust filled line on the ground, maybe only a fraction of a millimeter thick. Peridot traced the line until she found what she needed. Now covered with dirt and grime there was a panel with the outline of a hand. Placing the end of her right limb enhancer on it the panel and the surrounding ground began to glow.

Just as she was about to step on the elevator to go down to the kindergarten control center she heard something. Pebble fell from one of the upper emergence holes and hit the ground 50 feet from her. The technicians eye narrowed and she activated her blast cannon, beginning to scan the terrain for threats. She did this for maybe 30 seconds before she was satisfied that whatever it was it wasn't a problem. With a shrug she deactivated her blaster and stepped onto the glowing outline of a square. With a shudder the ground went from under her and began to move down. The ride was surprisingly smooth for an elevator that Peridot was sure hadn't been used in thousands of years, except for when she'd meant the Steven and the Crystal Gems of course.

The lift came to a soft stop and Peridot hopped off, making her way to the control room. Inside she found the panel and a now out of charge hand robinoid. She place her enhancer on the panel and it light up, this time the light shifting until it made a keyboard of sorts. On either side of the pedestal holo projectors popped out and a screen was not glimmering in front of her. As she began her work Peridot figured now would be excellent for another log and activated her vocal storage unit.

"Log date 6 5 2, I have located the prime kindergarten. I am currently standing main control room for the gem fusion experiments and am about to check the progress of the Cluster, and the early fusion experiments that acted as prototypes for this massive geo weapon," Peridot said as she tapped away at the console. Above and behind her several hisses could be heard as the air was pushed to remove any dust that had filled the seams where several columns appeared. Each was a hollow cylinder that contained at least two gem shards that had been fused together. The column also contained several sensors to tell the kindergartener what the condition of the shard fusions was. Many of them had began to stir, taking forms. This was both good and bad. If these small fusions were beginning to take forms than the Cluster would probably do the same within a few months at most.

As the fusion experiments began to take form their containment tubes started to break open, small cracks forming. A few pieces of the containment tubes fell off, and she could see them; wriggling, and writhing to escape. Peridot shuddered at the sight of them, a few even began to reach towards her. But as much as they frightened her she had to admit that they interested her greatly.

"A few of the fusion experiments have even begun to emerge early and show themselves to be quite... _active_. As much as I would like to stay and examine them further, I am short on time and need to find a way off world," Peridot said making her way to and up the elevator. The lift stopped now on the surface and Peridot began to walk the way she'd entered. Then she heard it. Faint at first, but growing ever steadily. A soft whooshing sound. The noise grew louder, now more like a thunderous wind. She spotted the source of the commotion. One of the primitive human transports was making its way across the sky, with another two smaller ones flanking it. All three had human weapons hanging off the sides and she could she that they had operators.

"I have once again encountered the Crystal gems, who appear to have allied themselves with the local human forces. I will lie in wait to ambush them and then make my escape. This is Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG signing off," Peridot said as she dove into one of the many emergence holes dotting the cliff walls. With her blast cannon ready she would wait for an opportunity to run...or so she thought.

* * *

 **SEVEN HOURS EARLIER**

 _Bumba Bumba, Bumba Bumba, Bumbada da da da, aaa, Bumba Bumba, Bumba Bumba, Bumbada da da da, aaa_

John's eyes opened slowly and he groaned. He had, just as many other nights, not slept well and, just as many other mornings, woken up with a hangover. But reveille was being called and he wouldn't allow himself to be one of those lazy officers who took advantage of their ability to sleep in well the enlisted Marines under them did morning PT. The captain pulled himself from his rack, grabbed his shaving kit and a bottle of tylenol and made his way to the head. He entered and went about his morning routine. He shaved his 5 o'clock shadow, now looking more like a scraggly beard, splashed some water on his face, brushed, swallowed two of the red pills, and then went back to dress. As he exited the bathroom he was greeted by a very tired looking and equally hungover King. The two had shared drinks the night before in celebration of the sergeants birthday.

With boots laced, BDU pants on and a green t-shirt John walked out onto the parade ground to meet his company for PT. Being special forces gave you a lot of advantages over the regulars, the one most relevant now being that John could have his Marines run in boots and not fitness shoes. One of the big advantages was that John could do his own PT. Well the rest of the base had already finished up and heading to chow, John was still pushing his troops. Having finished their warm up he would move them to what he called the mud run. Next to Quantico was a stretch of marsh land that cadets would have to march, run, crawl, and fight through. John had his company affix 10 pound weights to each foot and charge through the muddy quagmire. After this they would affix 80 pound rucksacks to their backs and do the same, but at a marching pace. They then would move to push ups, pull ups and sit ups, all well still wearing the rucksack. Newer members of the company would grab onto a tree branch that seemed strong enough, only to hear a distinct crack, and fall into the mud, usually about waist deep. John had his Marines do PT under these conditions for a multitude of reasons, but the biggest was that it taught them how to scan the terrain, find a tree that could support your weight, an area of ground that was actually hard enough to do push ups on, which parts of the swap were shallower than others and so on. PT went on for another hour or so like this until finally it was done.

The company returned to their barracks to shower, and redress in full BDUs. As he was running back to the barracks to change John saw Steven and the gems walking around the base. He'd need to make sure they had a guide, Quantico was a big place and getting lost on a military instillation was the very definition of a bad idea. Having showered and redressed, John and the rest of his Company made their way to the DFAC and ate. Breakfast was burnt coffee, overly greased bacon, soggy pancakes, and somehow perfectly crisped hash browns. After breakfast John and his necessary platoon leaders, Bowser and O'Donnell, walked to one of the bases many mission planning rooms. He sent Steven a text telling him to head to room 152 in building 4. He remembered that he'd told Amethyst where the mission planning would take place, but in the roughly three weeks he'd had to "work" with the gems he'd picked up on a number of tendencies that Amethyst and the other gems had. One of her may annoying ones was to forget rather important information.

John walked down the hallway with his lieutenants and his company staff in tow. He passed a number of rooms before stopping at 152, and entered. Despite what many action movies show, the room did not contain any high tech hologram projectors, or rows of computers with data analysts clicking away at their stations. No all it had was a few rows of fold up tables, a projector from the early 90's, some folding chairs, and a coffee maker with cream, sugar, and cheap styrofoam cups in the corner. John was both pleased and surprised to see the gems already there. He could not say the same about the group of cliche sec ops looking men standing by the projector. These would be the GGRCA representatives acting as oversight.

John motioned for everyone to have a seat, and turned on the projector. He placed a slide over the light and an image of a map showing a small canyon, "We've been going over this operation for the past few days now so this should really only be a quick sum up of who's where and such. This is the prime kindergarten and, from what the gems have told us, it is the most likely place for Peridot to have gone. After the meeting if you would check you email, I have sent all of you a PDF with the various points of egress and mission times. Please look over it carefully and if you need to you can print it off. The current theory for Peridot's mission on Earth is to reactivate gem production capabilities. This cannot happen. Gem production sucks massive amounts of resources, both living and not. If these production centers become active the damages caused by them in a matter of hours could last years best case and produce who knows how many Homeworld loyal gems, most of whom would be similar to Jasper. We cannot allow that to happen," John paused for a moment to let that sink in before continuing.

"The gems have in their possession a teleportation pad that can move a small group of troops to the area instantly. Myself, King, two other Marines, and the gems will be transported there before the main force to locate and keep an eye on Peridot. The remainder of the force, lead by O'Donnell and Bowser will enter the canyon by helicopter. You two," John said looking at his two lieutenants, "Will be flying in on Bell-hues and a CH-53. The Hues are the UH-1Y Venom and variants, with loadouts of two .50s and Hydra rockets with the M156 WP and M229 high explosive, dual purpose. Flight time should be about one and a half hours. Bowser, your platoon will enter the southernmost part of the canyon and set up a QF arty pit with you 81s. You will act as a road block should she manage to slip past us and our primary source of fire support should she have any unexpected surprises. Spread your troops out and have sharp shooters equipped with M16s and 203s on the sides of the ravine. O, you will be deployed at this crossroads here, and act the same as Bowser, minus the 81s,"

John pointed out the area on the map. It was a section of the canyon that split and had several smaller ravines leading off it that went who knows where. That would be the biggest problem. Well the gems had said that Peridots were mostly used as technicians and kindergarteners, and rarely had any formal combat training beyond what they might need for a given colony. John wasn't to worried about casualties, more her getting away. Well he or the gems couldn't think of any other reason for her to be on Earth, the idea that one gem was supposed to activate all of the gem production facilities on Earth alone seemed like a long shot.

"Both of you will act as the traps for Peridot to run into, my team will push towards O, but be ready to act as a capture point if she goes the other way Bowser. Our primary objective is capture, and under no circumstances will the Shatter protocol go into effect. Shards don't talk, and they came back to Earth for some reason other than settling a score," John said. He looked around the room, trying to gauge the mood. For the most part it was the usual some what cocky determination that he got when going over the game plan to a simple mission such as this' "Lift off is at 1200 hours after my team lands at Beach city, and Operation Pilgrimage starts when you get radio communication stating that we've made it. If no radio comms come by 1215 hours assume radio troubles and continue as follows. We will maintain a strict radio silence once we have confirmed our arrival, and all radio comms that are not mission critical are to be silent. Any questions?"

Steven and one of the GGRCA representatives raised their hands. As much as John would have liked to be a dick and take Stevens question first, it was probably not important, and he was stuck with these guys whether he liked it or not. Pissing them off would only cause unit cohesion to crumble. The representative that raised his hand was young looking, maybe in his late twenties. He was sporting an all black uniform with the GGRCA logo on his right arm, a holster with what looked like some kind of Sig with several spare mags, and a short knife with a tanto point. His name tag read Townsen, and he had the second lieutenants one silver bar.

"Where exactly are we during all this?" He said.

"Two of you will come with me well the rest will be split amongst the Bowser and O'Donnells platoons. I will leave it to you to decide how and where you want your men to go, But I presume that you will want to be with me" John replied, receiving a nod of agreement from Townsen. Turning to look at Steven John asked, "Yes Steven?'

"Can we rename the Operation to New Buddies?" He asked. For a second John legitimately considered, mostly because the kid had an uncanny way of convincing people to do things by looking sad and/or cute.

"No, the operational names are randomly selected by a computer and the before action report was already typed up, by myself yesterday. I don't like paper work so I'm not about to change it, but maybe the next one," John answered. As he was just about to close the meeting when about five people raised their hands.

"Yes?" John said looking at King.

"Sir, with all due respect, you aren't actually taking the kid with you?" King said. John sighed, he knew this was coming. Besides the fact that Steven was almost the exact opposite from a Marine, he was a minor and that on it's own would cause a lot of trouble with the more able bodied members of this new alliance. However despite his best efforts the gems insisted that they would not sign unless Steven was still allowed to go on missions with them. John did have to admit that the kid was certainly able bodied, he managed to prevent them from getting pancaked on the beach with his bubble, but he was still a kid.

"Yes King we will be taking Steven with us. Before you object he managed to get through gem missions of this type up to this point, so no reason to say he can't get through this one," John said. He could tell King still wasn't happy, After all the man had children of his own and both of them knew all too well that the young tended to get hurt or killed in combat situations. John looked around the room and saw there were no other questions, but he figured as soon as he left the room he'd get bombarded with things from the gems.

"Any other questions?" John asked, the room was silent, "Good, O'Donnell, Bowser, Steven please remember to check your email for that PDF. Townsen I will have someone send you that PDF. Mission begins in little more than 2 hours. Make any last minute preparations you need to and let's do this Marines. Can I get a Oorah?!"

"OORAH!"

With that John and the others proceed out of the room and to their respective stations. John and the Gems made their way to a waiting CH-53 carrying Seabees and building supplies to the Beach City reconstruction effort. In their absence there had been a number of corrupted gem attacks on the city which the Marines, Navy Seabees, National Guard and local law enforcement where left to deal with. There had been no fatalities as of yet, but 13 men and women of the various branches of service had been hospitalized with injuries of varying degrees. The chopper's blades began to spin up and soon they were off. John sat on the back ramp, harnessed in, with his legs dangling off the side. His helmet was off, and breeze felt great. He looked up to see Steven standing behind him, also harnessed. John scooted over so the boy could sit down. He could tell that he wanted to ask him something, but the roar of the rotors made any speech not through a mic impossible, or at the very least awkward and difficult. So they sat, looking out over the sweeping landscape. This gave John time to think, since he woke up he hadn't really had time to process himself. Last night dreams were the same usual grabble mess of mistakes and horrors he'd done or caused. But he couldn't shake the feeling that they were somehow different. He remembered a figure, small, dressed in red, always there but never confronting him. He remembered the last time a strange figure had appeared in his dreams and he still wasn't sure how that had worked. Regardless it wasn't that crazy to think that his guilt complex had manifested a new personality to deprive him of more sleep.

John was shaken from his train of thought by a tap on the shoulder. He looked to see Steven staring at him with a worried expression. The boy mouthed: Are you okay. John was a bit taken aback. Sure he had explained that the gems imprisonment was only protocol, he still expected them to be somewhat bitter, especially Steven who had gotten out of his cell the least. But instead the boy was asking if John was feeling alright. John nodded that he was fine and returned to his mind. The rest of the ride continued like this, John looking out over the landscape, or examining his M39, until finally they landed at the temple. An LZ had been set up for helicopters carrying building supplies, fresh workers, and medical. Well in most situations command would have been given to a higher ranking officer, there wasn't anyone who was field rated in the area so until then John had been put in charge of the Marine and Navy section of the reconstruction project. He refused to allow the people under his command use the local hospital, as there were now well over 400 Marines and Seabees in Beach City cleaning up the ship, fixing destroyed structures, and acting as guard. With that many barely adults working with firearms, and power tools accidents were bound to happen and he didn't want the hospital bogged down with injuries for the sudden influx of people. They already had enough to deal with form all the people who were either too proud to leave their homes during the battle and got collateral damaged or just hurt themselves. A temporary medical station had been set up near the funland arcade, which had gotten a massive spike in business.

The helo landed and John and the gems hopped off, making their way to the temple. Ramirez pulled his headset down and told Bowser and O'Donnell that they had arrived. John hadn't really had a chance to get a good look at the house and the temple behind it since he was last in the city, and he had to admit that it certainly looked lovely. It's view of the ocean that stretched out in front of it was something that wouldn't caused the property value sky rocket. He'd have ask how the gems had managed to keep the city from selling the property to some rich fat cat looking for a nice summer home. The group made their way up to the house and entered. It was lightly furnished, with a couch sitting against some bookshelfs with what John could only assume to be Stevens bedroom above it. The right side of the house was dominated by the kitchen, which John definitely appreciated for it's large counter space and lack of unnecessary furnishings. The center of the large room was a large stone door. A five pointed star with colored dots at eat of the points adorned it. Just below the door sat a massive blue crystal pad that John could only assume to be the warp pad. Before John could say Steven rushed forward, up the stairs, and catapulted on to his bed, landing with a muffled thump.

"Feels good to be back home," The boy said as he rolled off the bed and grabbed what had to be the coolest backpack ever. It was a cheeseburger, which he began stuffing various things into, such as action figures, some soda, and a ukulele. This garnered several raised eyebrows that could only say; _you're really going to bring that kid with us?_ , from every military person in the room. John only shrugged and walked over to Steven to explain that their purpose in this mission was to observe without being spotted and to be a quiet as possible, but Pearl beat him to the punch.

"Now Steven," She said with a tone like John's mother when he'd come home with a band of stray alley cats he'd made his new friends, " I know that you've brought your food backpack-"

"Cheeseburger backpack" Steven corrected her.

"Right, on missions before, but right now the mission we're going on requires stealth and a sandwich full of your action guys and a stringed instrument is not very stealthy okay," Pearl said. For a second it looked as though the boy was going to respond, probably by pointing out that all of the military types in the room had much bigger backpacks than his, but instead just nodded his head in understanding and set the cloth cheeseburger down.

"Hey maybe next mission you can carry extra ammo or something," John said reassuringly. Steven gave him a small smile and the group made their way to the warp pad. Before anyone could step one Pearl walked forward and turned to address them.

"Now for all those here who have never traveled by warp pad I will give a quick instructional on the effects and do's and don'ts of such a form of travel. As you go through the warp stream you will feel a sense of weightlessness, and may even begin to float. This is perfectly normal and fine, simply keep your feet pointed down wards so that if you do begin to float you will land feet first. Please keep any appendages inside the stream as it is incredibly cold outside of it. After the warp stops you may feel a headache. This is due to you body having traveled several hundred miles in the matter of a few seconds. Just lie down for a few seconds and you'll be fine. Any questions?" Pearl said. John checked his watch and decided there was time for a short few.

"How does the warp pad effect comms?" John asked.

"Effect what?"

"Comms, slang for communications equipment. You know like Stevens phone or our P-77s,"

"Oh, well unless the radios you carry are drastically different from Stevens phone they should be fine,"

King raised his hand next,"Does the stream cause any minor vibrations?"

"Um, quite possibly yes. Why?"

"Some of the weapons being fielded in this group do not have fixed firing pins. This means that if a round is chambered and the bolt is against it, however unlikely, there is a possibility that the weapon could fire if the firing pin were to vibrate back and forth with enough force," King explained. This was a fair concern, in fact it was the reason that rounds were not to be in the chamber well riding in a helicopter or in a vehicle over rough terrain. This wouldn't be an issue for King as he was using an M249 SPW, which fired from an open bolt, but everyone else was using M16s, M4s, or other weapons that fired from closed bolts making this an issue.

"Well in that case is there any way that you could make your weapons not do that?' Pearl asked, with a look of concern.

"Yes, we can. Anyone have any thing else," John asked, and was meant with silence. With that the group stood on the warp pad. John had chosen to take his main radio operator, Ramirez, and one of his best grenadiers, Lock, with him. Both were packing M16A4s. The Townsen had come with another GGRCA field operator and both of them had M4s, interestingly the older burst fire models. Everyone but king removed their magazines and locked their weapons open.

"So do you say a magic word or, HOLY SHIT!" John yelled as he was suddenly surrounded on all sides by an ever moving stream of light. Pearl wasn't joking about the weightlessness, John's whole body just began to float.

"John! Language!" Pearl scolded him, covering Stevens ears.

"Pearl, you're in the company of Marines. We're the people who gave the Navy a rep for cursing," John said back jokingly, as he tried to prevent himself from doing a backflip. Then, just as suddenly as the stream was there it ended, and John found himself hitting the ground helmet first.

"Ah, son of a," He said, rubbing his head. Behind him he heard at least one person puking, and had to admit he was hold back the urge himself. He looked up to see Pearl standing over him, one arm outstretched to help him up and the other curled around her spear. John took her hand, and couldn't help but notice her smile.

"Something funny?" He asked, still rubbing his head.

"Oh nothing," She replied, her smile growing ever so slightly. The Marine captain stood, and took note of his surroundings. If creepy had a home, this was it. The walls of the canyon were covered in hundreds of man sized holes, and the ground was so devoid of any sort of nutrients that each step he took his boot would sink in about a quarter of a inch. John had plenty of time for the gems to describe the terrain to him, but this was not what he'd expected. Wasteland fit the bill all too well.

"Ramirez, you good to talk?" John asked, seeing that his corporal and the other GGRCA member, Greggor, were the ones throwing up.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm all good cap," Ramirez said standing. Well he began to work out the radio John and the others began to fan out.

"This place hasn't changed at all since I was here," Steven said. John noted that Pearl and Amethyst shared a look at that comment. " _Gonna have to figure out what that means"_ John thought.

"Yeah, I guess it is nice to see the famethysts again,"

"The what?" King asked, sweeping the cliff sides with his M249.

"I was kinda late popping out so I chilled here and made some friends and family with these guys," Amethyst said, hoisting herself onto a not to particularly special looking rock, and giving it a loving pat.

"Rrrrrrright," King said, giving John a look.

"Don't look at me man, if I was stuck in a canyon for hundreds of years alone I probably start talking to rocks to," John said, sweeping the upper part of the canyon for threats. He was glad he'd bought that x2.5 in Mosul when he had the chance, a full power x4 ACOG would have restricted his field of view to much. As he kept scanning the seemingly endless rows of open holes he got an idea.

"Lock, did you bring rappel line and rounds?" John asked his grenadier.

"Are we in large canyon, with sheer cliff walls, and nothing but choke points?" Lock replied.

"If I wanted a sarcastic answer I would have asked some Army pog. See that ledge there" John said, point to a small rock outcrop about 70 feet up the cliff face. Lock gave him a smile and loaded a blank 40mm round into his M203. He then inserted what looked like a short harpoon with a length of cable attached to it into the barrel. He then shouldered the rifle took aim and fired. The recoil jarred Lock back a few paces and much to his and everyone else's disappointment the short harpoon ricocheted off the wall and began to fall back to earth. It would have hit the ground if Garnet hadn't jumped, soaring into the air and grabbed, slamming feet first, and ankle deep into the stone. The Marines looked in amazed silence as the gem flipped the harpoon in her hand to the back position and stabbed into the wall with a satisfying crack. John was snapped out of his star struckness by Ramirez patting him on the shoulder and handing him the radio head set.

"This is Hunter actual send traffic over," John said.

The headset gave a brief pause of static before bursting to life, "Hunter actual this is Heavyweight actual we are in route to drop point, ETA to drop point 25 min,"

"Roger Heavyweight actual, word on Broadsword actual?" John asked.

"Broadsword is in the air and has same ETA as us over," Bowser replied. They were making good time. The only thing that was needed to fall into place was for John's team to get set up and Peridot to appear. With the line now secured John handed the headset back to Ramirez, hooked on, and began to climb. The soft, resource depleted, stone made for an easy scaling surface and the rows of emergence holes acted as great resting spots. By the time he was at the top of the line Garnet had seated herself in one of the many holes lining the canyon and helped John in to the one above her. Once he was in she jumped back down to help Steven up. The hole was large, maybe 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide. It went in just deep enough for John to be able to lie down with his rifle being able to use it's bipod. He took to the snipers prone position, his left leg extended out behind him and his right leg brought in a little. He now had oversight on the whole section of the canyon. John jumped as Garnet once again secured herself into the rock and placed Stevn into a hole a little ways down from him. She then climbed into her on watch position and sat, legs dangling off the edge. John felt his hand held buzz and reached for it, bringing the walkie to his mouth.

"This is Hunter actual go head over," John said, watching as Garnet helped Ramirez into a hole which Steven currently occupied. Steven extended his hand and pulled the Marine and his 120 plus pounds of gear with surprising eas. The teams had been spilt up with him Ramirez, Garnet, and, Steven acting as overwatch, well King and the others would be the ground team.

"This is Knight, group 2 is in position waiting for your go," King said, giving John a wave from an emergence hole on the ground.

"Roger Knight, hold position and update if Pilgrim is spotted. Have Lightweight load a WP over," John replied. The gems had said that such code names and designations really wouldn't be necessary, Peridot had never been to earth and had no knowledge of human culture or names and it was very unlikely that she would even consider listening to their communications, but John was paranoid and would rather stick to what he knew. Just as he was thinking this over John saw her. The green gem simply strolled into the canyon. Sure she looked around, taking in her surroundings, but there was no deliberation to her movements. They were done casually like a tourist looking at ancient ruins, not methodically and tactfully. She walked to the center of the of the canyon and began to closely examine the ground. John reached over to his radio and tapped the talk button twice to tell King that he should pick up.

"Send traffic over," King said.

"We have eyes on Pilgrim, I say again eyes on Pilgrim, how copy," John whispered in the mic, keeping his right eye to the scope. Sound carried in the canyon and he didn't want to give her anything that could be used to find his position.

"This is Knight, we have negative conformation on Pilgrim, please advise," King replied. John looked up and moved his head to take a look at King's ambush point. From where he was there was a section of cliff that would block his line of sight. John internally grumbled and moved his radio back to his mouth. However as he did this a small, innocent looking pebble shifted and tottered off the edge, clacking against two pieces of jutting stone before hitting the ground below. The green gems head snapped to the disturbance and one of her arms formed into what looked like some sort of gun. John pulled himself and his rifle back into the hole as quickly and quietly as he could and held his breath. He could still see Peridot from his position, she was now scanning the ravine, carefully, her eyes rolling over each and every crack and crevasse. What had to have been only a few seconds seemed like an eternity. Once again John was in a situation where he was possibly about to go up against a technologically superior force, under staffed, and with no word on how long it would be until the main force was there, only estimations. But the wind blew Johns way and the green gem shrugged and deactivated her weapon. She stepped forward onto a square of the ravine, now outlined with a light green glow, and sunk into the earth. John breathed a sigh of relief that was two fold, just as Peridot went down John began to hear the faint whoosh of helicopter blades in the distance.

"Hunter actual this is Knight, please advise over," King said again.

"Knight move position of rocks and emergence holes to the east of you. Pilgrim has entered an underground area with unknown intentions. It is unknown how long she will be there so move now," John said, getting himself back into position. He watched as King, Pearl, Amethyst, Lock, Townsen, and Greggor dashed to the pieces of rock John had told them to head for. It gave them a perfect view of the elevator that the gem had entered, and not a moment too soon.

Peridot emerged from the earth and appeared to be talking. The sound of the approaching choppers was growing louder, and John wasn't the only one who heard it. Peridot looked up to see to of the UH-1Y Venoms and their CH-53 escort fly over her. She briefly said something and darted into a hole to the right of her. John could see just the edge of her hair poking out. He reach for his radio and turned it to all channels.

"This is Hunter actual, Pilgrim has come back up and taking cover in an emergence hole about 20 degrees west of Knight's position. Lightweight have that WP ready to fire into the hole, I'm marking it now with an IR, how copy?" John said, leaning forward to turn on the IR laser on the top of his scope.

"This is Knight, we have confirmation on Pilgrims position, what's the call?" King asked.

"Hold position, on my go Lightweight fire and Knight have your forces move into surround, overwatch team will pin until smoke clears. Battery what's word on Heavyweight and Broadsword?" John said, bringing the reticle over Peridots head, now poking out to see where her soon to be attackers were.

"Heavyweight has landed and is currently setting up their QFP, Broadsword is hopping off as we speak," Ramirez said. It would have been better in the main force had landed half an hour earlier, but it also wouldn't been nice if Peridot had arrived an hour later. But the pieces had fallen as such, and what mattered now was keeping Peridot in that hole. She would probably try to hunker down once the fire started pouring on, but once the WP hit she would come running out it to the waiting arms of the ground team. John took aim, slowed his breathing, and slowly pulled back the trigger.

 _ **BANG**_

* * *

Peridot couldn't see much of the canyon from her hiding place and and was slowly coming to the realization that she probably should have started moving when she first saw the transports. She poked her head out to try and figure the best means of escape as her entry point would probably be blocked. Just as she looked out she felt something zip through her hair and heard the distinctive crack of the human weapons. Before she could react there was another shot, this one grazing her cheek. She ducked back into the hole, narrowly avoiding a shot which she was almost certain would have shattered her. She needed to think fast, more of the small metal cones were hitting in and around her cover and to her horror a small gray canister landed a few feet outside of her hiding spot. It began to spark and burn violently, emitting a white smoke that set fire to what little amounts of dried organic matter there was on the ground. The strands of white smoke seemed to almost reach for her, spreading across the ground like some wraith.

Peridot thought fast and turned her blast cannon t the wall next to her. She doubled the power output and fired. A seam of green energy melted through the stone wall in front of her. The technician smiled at her quick thinking and handy work and fired again. Before long she had dug a small escape tunnel by digging through the stone that separated the emergence holes that covered the cliff walls. Just as she was about to make a break for it a piece of the sparking, burning matter from the canister shot out and landed on her are. The technician screamed. She had never felt such a pain in her life, the small piece of combusting matter almost seemed to be burning it way into her. She reached over and ripped it off, and bolted down he escape route. She could hear the humans firing more of their weapons into her previous hiding place. The makeshift tunnel ran 50 feet or so before she hit another wall. Realizing that she still needed to put distance between herself and her attackers, she repeated the same process.

" _If I have to dig to the cluster itself to escape these stupid clods, then so be it,"_ Peridot thought to herself, rapidly firing into the stone in front of her. With another makeshift tunnel dug, and the smoke from her old position beginning to clear she ran forward again. This tunnel had been dug farther, and when she reached the end of it she decided that now was the time to make an escape. A quick look over her shoulder confirmed this as one of the humans was behind her, it's weapon raised. Pieces of stone peppered her as she dashed out of the emergence hole she had occupied and ran full speed towards one of the canyons exits. She could hear them running after her, turning to see the Pearl, Amethyst, and several of the humans on her tail. She looked ahead and, to her dismay, saw a group of 12 armed humans running straight at her. A few of them stopped and raised their weapons to fire.

The technician took a hard left and activated the surface scaling unit on her gravity connectors. She hit the steep cliff side and began run up it. The fire was pouring in from all sides now, and she was having to zig and zag to avoid getting hit. Just ahead of her was an injector, if she could get on the other side of that than she'd have cover all the way to the top. Just as she was thinking this a spear sailed towards her, and Peridot managed to duck just in time.

"Ha, you missed me!" She yelled down at the Pearl who yelled something back that she couldn't make out. Peridot turned back, only to see the injector drill she was heading for falling towards her. Peridot thought fast, detached herself from the wall, and activated her lift generator. Before she knew it she was floating above her adversaries and making her way to the cliff top. More of the small metal cones zipped through the air around here, and two slapped against the side of her stretched out arm. Finally she was at the top and landed. Once on the ground she began to bolt toward the slope in front of her.

Just as she was about to jump off the edge and slide down into the open plains that lead to dense foliage that lay outside the canyon the smaller of the human's primitive transports appeared, it's weapons trained on her and it's propulsion system kicking up a whirlwind of dust.

"This is the United States Marine Corps, stop and surrender immediately or you will be fired upon!" The pilot said through a voice amplifier.

"I don't have time for this you muddy, cruddy, clods!" Peridot screamed, activating her blast cannon and firing at the vehicle's propulsion system. The ball of crackling green energy shot towards the center of the recoiling blades and exploded. The vehicle fired a few rounds at her before it was sent careening forward to the ground next to the technician. The cockpit hit the ground, it's glass smashing and filling with dirt. One of the operator was frantically trying to reach for it's weapon. Peridot ran a jumped off the slope edge, sliding down into the field in front of her. As she was running the operator from the transport began to fire at her, one of the rounds zooming through her hair, past her ear, and cracking her lenses. But now she was under the cover of earth's organic structures and would be almost impossible. She could hear more of the transports above her, looking for her. They would strafe the ground, firing long raking bursts of their metal cones. The organic structure around her exploded form their impact.

"Stupid clods, trying find me in this den-" Peridot was cut short by the thunderous sound of dozens of projectiles firing from one of the transports into the brush around her. They hit, spraying the white smoke from earlier every where. Soon the whole forest was in flames and Peridot was forced to run back the way she came. She managed to find an injector that had fallen a split open. Crawling inside, the gem cut away a part of the injectors inner lining and sealed herself into its inner workings. The space was small, and cramped, but now one would find her. Hours later she would emerge, and manage to slip away between the lines of patrolling Marines through sheer luck. Now she would need to find a way off world.

* * *

John lifted his eye from the scope and began to reload. Ramirez took over dumping rounds into the green gems position to keep her there. As the white phosphorus smoke began to clear John signaled to the others that they should meet the ground team. Their prey was trapped and John wanted to see what it was she had been doing under ground personally. He hooked on to the line and repelled down. By the time he reach the ground the smoke had cleared and Lock had entered the hole with Greggor behind him. Greggor then came running out of the hole pointing down the length of stone yelling that she had tunneled through and was escaping. John decided that King and his group would chase her into O'Donnells line and that his team would investigate what ever she had been doing here.

With that the group turned and made their way towards the spot Peridot had entered. The entrance had sealed, but that did little to stop the group. Garnet stood on the edge of the fading squared, and punched downward. The stone cracked and fell into a barely light, sloping tunnel. Garnet grabbed ahold of Steven, well John drew his pistol, and entered first, Ramirez close behind. With his boots at angle he slowly slide down and came to a stop at a small room with a broken crystal in a large alcove, and several large pillars on the floor and ceiling. Some had cracks that you could look into, showing that they were hollow.

" _Why would they be hollow, maybe storage containers of some sort?"_ John thought to himself as Garnet walked up one of the pillars to inspect it. She touched her hand to it, and it began to shake, violently.

"Is there something in there?" Steven asked, backing away from it. As John opened his mouth to ask Garnet what this place was for when something blue and pink fell behind Steven, causing the boy to jump. It was a hand and a foot melded together like some Frankenstein knock off.

"What the," John said quietly, "Garnet what are these?"

Garnet picked it up and more like it, a jumble of arms, hands, feet, legs, fell from the ceiling. The one Garnet was hold slipped out of her grip and latched onto Steven's face. She grabbed it and poofed it, two gem shards appearing in it's place. "What is it? It looks like two gem shards stuck together?" Steven asked.

She inspected them for a moment, brief shuddering and tossing them away like some venomous snake. "Is that what all these things are, gems stuck together?" Steven asked again. The others were beginning to make their way towards them, one grabbing onto John's boot. He kicked it away and drew his Ka-Bar replacement, an old M7 bayonet he had around for any time he fielded an M14 variant.

"Ramirez pull back and fix your bayonet, this might get ugly," John said, as one of the pillars burst open and, what looked like several large gems shards clumped together rose and began to take form. It stopped, the glowing light that made it up beginning to shift. Four bodies, mouths open in scream of pain and insanity sprang from it, clawing at the air as though trying to pull themselves away from each other. As though trying to find the pieces of themselves no gone. They collapsed into each other, taking a new form. Pieces form the glowing ball of light stretched out and it began to take a more hand like shape. The fusion lifted itself into the air and came down, emitting a sound like that of a broken mind. It was a hand, each finger a different colored arm reaching out to the group. It's body stretched back and up, like a scorpion's tail, the end being several legs. It was wrapped in a tattered gray cloth. It came forward and latched onto Garnet, now frozen.

"Garnet, Garnet! What do we do?!" Steven frantically asked, throwing a pair of hands off of him and summoning a shield to push them back. The boy grabbed ahold of two arms fused together and used them to beat back more of the unnatural monstrosities.

"These were crystal gems, shattered into pieces. They were buried together, forced to fuse together," She said, a tear beginning to stream down her face. John kicked one across the room and stabbed another. He knew what these things were, just how wrong they were. He looked over to see Garnet beginning to glow white, a hole opening up in her mid section.

" _Oh shit, she's coming undone,"_ This was bad, John had no idea if or how the gems that made up Garnet could help if she spilt, and there were still plenty of pillars that still had their disgraces to nature inside. John ran to cut one of the arms hold her off, when the tail came around, hitting him into the wall. His helmet slammed against the wall with an audible crack, and for a second John blacked out. When he came to Garnet had come back together, gripping her gauntlets onto either side of the monster. She began to pull, until finally it was gone in a puff of smoke. She reached down a bubbled it, holding it in between her gauntlets. Ramirez came over and help John up, and the two began to make their way towards the gem.

"We did it," Steven said, pumping his fist in the air. But his sense of accomplishment was not shared, "Garnet?

"So this is what homeworld thinks of fusion," Garnet said in a hard voice, to no in particular.

"We couldn't have known they would do this," She said in a different, softer voice.

"This is where they've been. All the ones we couldn't find, they've been here the whole time,"

"Rose couldn't have known,"

"Garnet you feeli-"

"This is punishment for the rebellion!"

"It's not our fault,"

"Garnet!" Steven said, a bit louder. This broke the gem from her trace and she turned to face Steven.

"Steven...I'm sorry, I-" Garnet tried to explain herself.

"No, Garnet it's fine, I...I think I understand," Steven said. Garnet gave the boy a smirk and hugged him. John turned to see Pearl, Amethyst and King come sliding down to tell them what had happened.

"Peridot got away, she was just too fast for us," Pearl said.

"She managed to take down a chopper, but all the crew managed to get out alive, and with nothing more serious than a broken bone," King said, as another one of the fusion fell on the floor and began to crawl onto Amethyst.

"What are these," Pearl said, pulling off her and holding with an outstretched hand.

"Drop it!" Garnet said with a tone that caused Steven to wince, "We need to poof and bubble all of them, none can escape."

* * *

 **And there is chapter nine, and wow has this brought up a glaring reality to me. I need to rewatch this series. I was kinda planning on doing this fan-fic from memory so the pieces that I wrote seemed more personal, but whole entire planned story arcs kinda fell apart when I went back and looked at some episode release dates. I also kinda worry that I'm not really getting the gems as well as I could be. But those are things for me to figure out, and for you to point out so...I don't really know where I was going with this. Oh, right, I think I might start leaving links to wikipedia pages on any weapons or slang that I mention or use as there are some of us (I'm thinking of one follower in particular) who have a fairly decent knowledge of firearms and can visualize what an M39 EMR is. Then there are those who have never shot a gun in their lives, and as far as they're concerned I'm just typing jumbles of letters and numbers. So to those who would want this please say so as I don't want to take the time to put the link to a page on some APC, or a machine gun and have like, 2 people tops look at it. I also am currently trying to find something for John's theme and and this point really only have one song that I've chosen mainly because it has bits of Jaspers theme in it. I will leave the link for anyone to check out, and if anyone has any idea where I can find some software to make a theme myself FOR FREE that'd be awesome. Other than that I just have my usual beg for reviews, and a thanks to all those who do. Oh, and one more thing, if your are one of those people who left a comment and I couldn't reply to it and it was a question about the story that some readers may just want to find out as the story progresses please do so some way that I can reply directly to you. Some people really don't want anything spoiled, but I also know how it feels to be one of those readers who really wants to know something but can't get their question heard.**

 **watch?v=biznszWdVi0**


	10. Chapter 10 This Is My Sword

**Chapter Ten**

 **This is My Sword**

It had been hours of nothing but sweeping the canyon clear of the Homeworld mutant gem experiments. Most of them were just two or three shards that would form arms, and legs. However the occasional larger one was a much bigger issue. So far casualties had been light, in fact the only other person to get any serious injury besides the Huey pilots was a Marine who had fallen from a low cliff edge and hit the ground 30 feet below. They'd been lucky to land on their pack, and only bruised their spine and ribcage. John and the gems had come to the conclusion that any remaining gem mutants had not yet emerged and keeping two whole infantry platoons there would be a waste.

A small force of eight had been left there to act as a quick reaction force should any more pop up or Peridot return. But there had been no sign of the green gem and no real idea where she would go. The general assumption was that she would try to find some way off world and to the gems knowledge there was no functional transport on Earth that would be able to take off without them knowing. That left a few options, such as the galaxy warp if she could fix it, but that area of the ocean was already being regularly patrolled by naval ships looking for Malachite.

But that was two days ago. Right now John was sitting on the porch to Stevens house, having one of the hardest chess games of his life. His opponent across from him was Pearl, who was the only one in the house that could present him with any real challenge. He'd tried, as Pearl had also, teaching Steven to play. But slow, methodical, strategy wasn't the boy's cup of tea. Both Amethyst and Garnet weren't allowed to play, Amethyst for trying to "tactically nuke" John's forces with a flashbang she'd pick-pocked (thankfully she hadn't pulled the pin), and Garnet for future vision reasons. So now he and Pearl sat across from each other both in deep thought as to how to beat the other. So far the had both forced each other into a perpetual check, as their kings were the only pieces remaining on the board and neither could get to the other side without putting their own king in checkmate. The game had gone on like this for about a half hour, neither of the two wanting to admit that there was no point in going on as both wanted to win, and there was no way to get into position to attack the others king without then having their king captured.

"You want to call it," John said for the uptenth time, wanting desparatelly to do anything else.

"Well seeing as how neither of us can win without the other basically surrendering, I guess so. However since you asked for the end of the game you would be forfeiting and I will win by default," Pearl said, again.

"Uuuuuuuuugh, fuck it. My pride and ego have ran out along with my patiences. Congrats Pearl you win," John said standing. He turned, holstered his M1911A1 that had been sitting on the table, and began to walk down the steps.

"Where are you going?" Pearl asked, putting away the chess set.

"To get a donut and coffee," John yelled over his shoulder. He made his way to the Big Donut, passing several crews of Seabees and Marine field engineers hard at work fixing one of a couple of water lines that had broken from the ship's explosion. He gave them a friendly wave and kept going down the shore line until the shop came into view.

It was almost noon and the place was pretty much deserted, save for a few of the Seabees who had the same idea. The group had opted to eat outside in the nice weather, and John had to admit it felt great for mid September, even though he was in full MCCUUs. (I made a mistake calling them BDUs last chapter sorry)

John entered, the door making its usual ding to announce a customer, "Sadie, Laramie, how's life," John said trying to sound chipper.

"It's Lar's and fine," Lars said, with an annoyed tone.

"Oh my bad, how bout you Sadie?" John replied.

"Life could be worse, but you guys certainly keep us busy, and tell a lot of stories," Sadie said with a friendly smile, "So, um, Sir?"

"John's fine,"

"John, what'll it be?"

"Two double chocolate gazed, a cruller, a boston cream, and how fresh are those apple fritters? Same question for the coffee," John said, well Sadie picked out the donuts he asked for and Lars began to ring up his total.

"Well I just changed the coffee, but the fritters have been sitting in there since we opened so there a couple hours old," She said, loading the pastries into a brown paper bag.

"Well I'll pass on them then," John said reaching for his wallet.

"That'll be $10.92," Lars said, taking a second to look at his phone.

"You guys have change for a twenty?" John asked pulling a twenty dollar bill out of the black leather wallet.

"Yes,"

"Keep it, consider it $9.08 for your thoughts," John said handing Lars the bill.

"Our thoughts on what?" Sadie asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Your thoughts on," John paused for a moment, searching for the right words, "Well let's just call it what it is, the occupation. I know that the Marines and Sailors that were under me have been providing ample amounts of business to places like this, but that they are also a band of foolhardy, loud, and reckless young adults and a military force that has been technically occupying this city for just over a month now,"

"Well they've certainly provided plenty of rushes for us," Lars said, a little mockingly.

"I really don't mind you guys too much, it's just up until recently myself and most of Beach City haven't really believed that we needed military intervention for such problems. If some crazy monster showed up then Steven's, uh, moms would take care of it. Really I think people are just unnerved, and so long as you don't overstep your bounds, or overstay your welcome then you shouldn't have any trouble, other than small disputes," Sadie said. This was the answer John expected and was hoping to hear.

"Speaking of over staying, how long are you well staying?" Lars asked.

"The majority of these guys should be out of here once clean up operations are finished, but myself and at least a platoon will be staying indefinitely," John said casually, walking over and pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"Indefinitely?! Wait, how many guys is a platoon?" Lars exclaimed.

"A standard infantry platoon is around 40 troops, but I usually keep mine around 30 or less. Makes it easier to move quickly and manage effectively," John said, sipping his coffee.

"But why are you staying like, forever?" Lars asked, "You guys don't exactly make my job any easier,"

"Did you forget that a alien spaceship showed up less than a month ago with capabilities to wipe Empire City off the map?" John retorted.

"That's fair enough, but there's not a ship now," Sadie said.

"And what happens if another one was to show up? The point is an amount of troops is going to be staying here, and they will be directly under my command. I don't want there to be any tensions between my Marines and the people of Beach City. Really I guess I should get to my second question, any ideas on how I could ease any tensions?" John asked, dunking a chocolate donut in his coffee and taking a bite.

"Well getting out of here would be one way," Lars muttered, earning himself an elbow from Sadie.

"There's a Beach-a-Palooza coming up in a few weeks. Last year Steven and the gems formed a band, and the whole town turned out to see. You could do something for that," Sadie suggested.

"There are a few people who are musically talented around, anything else?" John said, taking another bite of the donut. Steven had mentioned that the place was good, and the captain had to admit the kid was right.

"Well you missed the parade, I guess just having your guys mingle with the locals would be the best thing you could do for now," Sadie said, "In all reality you haven't really done much of anything to cause unrest, really you've been nothing but helpful. Is there some reason why you're asking?" Sadie asked.

"Let's just say I've had clashes with locals before," John replied, " _Yeah, clashes is one way to put it,"_ something in the back of his mind spoke.

"Well let's hope that nothing happens well you're here," Sadie said, as John began to turn and make his way towards the door. He thanked them both for answering his questions and began to make his way back to the temple. He stopped and chatted a little with the Marine engineers and Seabees, still working hard to fix the pipe. As he made his way up the temple steps he saw Loin. Steven had properly introduced him to the large animal and told him about all the things it could do. Currently it was sunning itself on the porch. John gave the pink cat a pat on the head, and made his way inside, where he saw Steven, Pearl, and Connie discussing something.

"You're awfully young to begin something like this," Pearl said as John stepped in the door.

"Awfully young to begin what?" John asked, downing the last of his coffee.

"Oh John, your back. Steven and Connie were just trying to convince me that she should begin training on how to use a sword, but I made the point that Connie-"

"Is young," John finished her sentence, "Well I don't see any problem with it, I mean you are supposedly an excellent sword fighter, and Connie is very much a gifted individual."

"Please I want to learn. I mean I don't know what will happen in the future, but if something dangerous comes along I don't want to be a brunden. I want to help. I want to be there for Steven, to fight by his side. The Earth is my home too. Can't I help protect it?" Connie said, and John had to admit he was moved by the young lady's words. He hadn't heard any mention of this before, but she certainly seemed like she wanted to throw herself completely into this. He looked at Pearl and saw her to be on the verge of tears.

"Oh, okay," the slender gem managed to squeak out, "If that's how you feel, we should get started."

"Wait, now?" Both John and Connie said, as Pearl rose and began to make her way towards the warp pad.

"Well of course, you should know John, the best time to start training was twenty years ago. The second best time is now,"

"I believe it's plant a tree, but okay," John said, and watched as the teacher walked past the warp pad, and into the temple.

"Sooooooo, what exactly sparked this sudden need to be a warrior Connie?" John asked, curiously.

"Well it was really more Steven's idea, but it does sound fun," She replied, her eyes a little downcast.

"Yeah, Connie and I were enoughing jam with our jams, and these seagulls appeared and started trying to eat my jam. Connie jumped up, and beat them back with her violin bow. She was really good at it, and because she so talented already learning how to use a sword should be a breeze," Steven explained excitedly. John couldn't help but notice Connie blush at his compliment.

"Well it is true that she is talented, the mastery of any weapon takes a lot more than talent. One can learn how to use a rifle, or a sword in a matter of weeks, heck I've even taught people how to shoot accurately and effectively in less than a day. But to truly master, to be one with any type of arms, takes years of training, practice and dedication. But hey you're young, you've got plenty of time to learn," John said reassuringly.

"Hey John?" Steven asked.

"Yes Steven?"

"Why would you want to be one with your arms?"

"Steven, when John says arms he means it as a weapon, as in firearms, or to take up arms," Connie explained.

Just as John was about to thank her for her explanation, Pearl exited the temple. She was holding a small, short, saber, in a dark blue felt sheath and another longer, more curved one, "John, as you have been around for the past few days and given me some education on Marine customs, I thought I would grab a saber similar to the officer's saber that your older contemporaries would have carried, thinking that maybe you could assist me in teaching Connie how to wield such a weapon," Pearl said, offering the captain the saber's hilt.

"Well I'm faltered, I've never really wielded the officer's saber in anything other than ceremonies and parades. If you want me to give any instruction I would be far more useful with a firearm or bayonet on the end of a rifle," John explained, taking the curved sword.

"Oh, well in that case maybe you can learn with Connie. In fact it wouldn't be a bad idea to maybe give Connie instruction on your weaponry at some point," Pearl said.

"Uhhhhhhh, I don't know what the Maheswaram views on firearms are, and I would rather not piss them off. Not to mention that it would probably detrimental to Connie's training to also be instructing me at the same time as her," John said.

"Well In that case you can watch and give any insight you have when it's needed. As to you training her on the use of your weaponry, we can ask Connie's parents later. It's about time we started," Pearl said and stepped onto the warp pad. She activated it and they were once again in a stream of light. John had also had the gems show him some the various places that warp pads were located on Earth, and had grown used to the weightlessness, and no longer got the brain splitting headaches. After about ten times you learn to just float in place. Connie on the other hand was flipping around through the air, enjoying the feeling of zero gravity. Finally the stream of light came to an end and John looked around. He hadn't seen this place before.

It was a structure of some sort, that appeared to be jutting off the side of a cliff, as the area in front of the Marine shot off into space, and that was the only possible explanation. John looked over to see Connie laughing excitedly at the feeling of weightlessness that had taken hold of her. He smiled, lucky her not having to feel a mind splitting headache.

"Hurry up, or I'll have to start without you," Pearl said, already halfway up the stairs that flanked either side of the warp pad. The trio quickly acceded the stairs and ment up with the sword master. This was when John finally realised where they were. All around them was open sky, a clouds.

"Are we floating?" John asked, awestruck.

"Why yes we are, some of the very first battles for Earth were fought here in this ancient sky arena. It was here where I became familiar with the human concept of being a knight. Of being completely dedicated to a person and a cause. This is what you must become Connie," Pearl said, her voice quivering slightly. She handed Conie the short saber, "We begin with a bow, first to me your teacher, and then again to your liege."

Connie first bowed to Pearl, and then to Steven, both giggling at him being her liege. John had to admit the idea of Steven being royalty was pretty funny.

"I hope you two are taking this seriously," Pearl said, with a slight annoyance.

"Yes ma'am," Connie said straightening herself, still holding a smile.

Pearl turned and took a few steps away from the group. She then did a small pirouette, balanced on one toe. Her gem glowed and emitted a ball of light that took the shape of a holographic Pearl.

"Whoa, hologram Pearl," Connie said, looking amazed. John couldn't but say that he didn't share her amazement. The hologram was a poor rendition of the ivory warrior, lacking much of the detail of her graceful features, but what it lacked in visual detail it made up of in its utility.

"Do you wish to engage in combat," the hologram said in laughable robotic voice and taking a defensive stance.

"Yes!" Connie said excitedly, raising her hands into the air. Just as she said this both her and Steven were suddenly shielded inside of one of Stevens protective bubbles, "Uhhh, Steven?"

"Oh, sorry, sorry, reflex" Steven said, lowering the bubble, "You train and I will be over here,"

John decided with his lack of experience in swordsmanship that he would sit with Steven and observe. At the very least he could examine to saber Pearl had gotten for him. It wasn't anything ornate, most definitely a weapon of warfare, but there were small markings along the blade and hilt. They appeared to be some form of language that resembling the writing that was on the spires adorning the arena sides. The captain sat down next to the young teen, leaning back against the large stone seat behind him.

"Sooooo, is there anything I should know about holo-Pearl? John asked, laying the saber across his legs.

"Well a while back Pearl was trying to teach me how to use a sword and I kept what her to do the boomerang blade attack from this movie, wait have you seen the Lonely Blade series?" Steven asked.

"Ummmm, maybe?" John said. He'd seen a lot of movies during various tours given that most of his time was spent sitting back and watching old movies on a box TV. Despite being infantry most of his deployment had been spent trying not to be bored.

"We'll watch it a some point, anyway there's this cool attack the main character can do were he puts his swords together and-"

"Is this important to the story?"

"No not really, just adds extra detail. So I kept telling her to do the attack on holo-Pearl, and she got distracted and kinda, uhhhh...got stabbed," Steven tried to say in a way that made it not sound horrible. If John were drinking he would have done a spit take.

"Okay, that gives more reason for Pearl to put a protective bubble around you,"

"Well after Pearl got poofed I kinda tried to have holo-Pearl be her stand in, but it just wasn't the same. One night when the gems were out on a mission I activated holo-Pearls more advanced training and she began to attack me. It was kinda scary, but I managed to beat her," Steven said with a look of pride.

"Well you were fighting a training dummy, it's not like you had to face an axe murder or something," John said.

"Oh no holo-Pearl was way worse, she cut the broom stick I was using to defend myself right in half," Steven said and, for the second time in less than a minute, if John were drinking he would have done a spit take.

"Wait, so that thing," John said pointing at the hologram, "Is using a real sword?"

"Yes," Steven said, with a nod.

"Well, let's hope Connie's parents never find out about this," John said. He knew that Pearl wouldn't let unnecessary harm befall the girl and Connie did seem legitimately interested in learning how to fight, but still he hoped that they could either sit down with the Maheswarans or never have them find out. John turned his attention back to the ivory warrior and her student. Pearl was instructing her on her stance, and how to hold the blade. How to face her opponent, and how to parry. Pearl then set the hologram rendition of her to a basic attack mode.

* * *

"Parry, Parry, Thrust," it repeated, going through each of the motions it announced.

"Well this exercise may not be as exciting as others we will get onto, but it will build in the basic reflexes that you will need to have in combat," Pearl said, "Now I want you to attack when the hologram parties and parry when it thrusts. I will comment on your form and technique, if you show promise in these basic exercises then maybe we can move on to more comprehensive ones today."

"Yes ma'am," Connie said, placing her right foot forward, and bringing the sword in front of her.

"Keep your stance wide, keep you body lower," Pearl corrected her.

"Yes ma'am," Connie said, adjusting herself. She brought her sword down for each time the hologram would parry, each strike giving a satisfying clang that would send a vibration through the sword and her. When it thrust forward with it's blade Connie would bring her own to knock it aside. She continued to do this for several minutes before Pearl stopped the hologram.

"That was very good Connie. I can only say that you need to be quicker with your strikes, but in all fairness the hologram was set to a certain tempo of attack. You also need to keep your form as I instructed, I don't just tell you to do things just to see you do them. John anything you would like to add?" Pearl asked turning towards the Marine. Connie still wasn't quite sure how she felt about him. Well he had only acted with his best instincts he had imprisoned her friends for a number of weeks, but something about him just put her off. But she wouldn't let her childish superstitious fears get in the way of what could be useful instruction.

"Well take what I say with a grain of salt as it really applies more to hand to hand combat or knife combat, but I would bring my arms in a bit more. This will give you more time to build up power for any strike you want to deliver and better control of your weapon," John said, " And, well we can't exactly fix it now, when you come for training wear something like jeans and a t-shirt and have your hair in a bun, braid or just cut shorter so then when you get onto more advanced training it would get in your way."

"Thank you John, now we will move on to a more dynamic training," Pearl said. Her gem began to glow again and she moved her hands to either side of it. They began to glow white, and soon two, one foot wide paddles appeared, strapped to her hands. They had bullseyes marked on them.

"Now Connie, I want you to try and strike these paddles well I move them to avoid your attacks. When you hit it will leave a mark a the point of first impact. I will also push towards you or back away, and you will have to adapt accordingly. This exercise will act as a sort of base line for me to judge what areas you are already proficient in and what ones need improvement. Take a strike when you're ready," Pearl said.

"Okay," Connie said, and swung for the paddle on Pearls left hand. Pearl deftly moved the paddle just out of range and caused Connie to stumble.

"Quickly, recover yourself. If this were real combat I could have hit you at this point," Pearl said. Connie nodded and steadied herself. She had read about faints in her various adventure novels and figured that would be the best course of action. She made a stab at the left paddle again, but halfway through turned the sword and struck the right one.

"Very good Connie," Pearl said, beginning to back away. Connie rushed forward, and made a powerful swing at the right paddle. She missed by mere millimeters. She brought the saber back around, the point just barely grazing the edge left paddle. Pearl now began to move the paddles more erratically. Connie realising again that she would need to adapt her strategy began to also make more erratic and frequent strikes at the paddles. But each stab, swing, or strike would fall just short and Pearl had switched the tactics. She was now pushing towards Connie, causing the girl to step backwards. Connie turned to watch where she was stepping.

"As you move backwards keep your eyes on me," Pearl said, and Connie complied. But not being the most dextrice person she tripped and fell. As Pearl began to move to help her up Connie saw an opportunity and quickly struck at the paddles. Her swing managed to connect with both of them, slicing right through the middle. The trick would have certainly destroyed any opponent she would have been facing, but it still felt low and dirty.

"Hey Connie no fair cheating," Steven called out, half jokingly. She looked over at him and John. To her surprise she saw a small smile on the man's face.

" _Is he pleased that I had used a such a cheap move?"_ Connie thought. But that didn't matter now, Connie shook the thoughts from her head and focused on her training. Connie continued to do exercises for hours until the sun had begun to set.

"Pearl as great as this training is I do need to get home," Connie said, exhausted. She was being sincere about her need to go home and the training being fun, for once Connie knew what it felt like to be one of the heros in her books. It hurt. Her muscles, joints and whole body was sore, and her hands were beginning to grow calluses. She was covered head to toe in sweat and couldn't be happier that it was the weekend and she would get to sleep until 9:30 tomorrow before she would eat breakfast and go to her tennis lessons.

"Well actually Connie were are in a different time zone and the right now it's...um, John what's the time?" Pearl asked.

"About 18:30 hours," John said, standing beside Pearl. The Marine habd actually given some good pointers on how to wield the sword, and was careful to let Pearl teach and act more as a second opinion, "But allow me to say what Connie won't, she's new to this, wearing clothing that doesn't breath well and holds heat and quite frankly she's tired. We've made really good progress today, especially if this is something she wants to pursue, but she new and needs to to rest and recuperate."

Connie wanted to say that she was fine, now knowing that it was only 6:30. But John was right, she was beat. Infact she even thought she might just have Mr. Universe drive her home so she could put ice on her sore spots and sleep.

"Well, I we have covered quite a lot today and you are new to this," Pearl said, pausing for a moment, "Fine, we'll stop for today, if you can beat the holo-Pearl on level three combat,"

"Pearl do you really think that's the best idea?" John asked in a hushed tone, just barely loud enough for Connie to hear, "As we already said she's tired, and she hasn't faced anything above level 2 combat and that was after seeing you perform a demonstration on how to face the holo-Pearl. I get that you want to test her, but it's only been one day and pushing her too hard might push her away."

"John it's alright, I can handle it. Besides this would be a good test for what I've learned so far today and I know I'm committed to this. I really do want to help Steven if a threat should come to Earth and not be in the way or be just another civilian you and the gems are evacuating," Connie said, trying to look confident. John turned to Steven whose expression was nothing but brimming with support for his friend. The Marine sighed, shaking his head.

"I can't knock you for being so tenacious. Fine, but is there some way that we can blunt the holo-Pearl's sword or make it so that if it's clear that it's going to make contact it'll stop?" John asked. Pearl paused for a moment.

"Yes, I'll activate what called it's touche mode. Stars, it has to have been thousands of years since that program was used," Pearl said, walking over to the holo-Pearl and making a few motions, "It's blade won't be any less sharp, but it will stop if it get's past Connie's guard."

"What was the program originally used for?" John asked.

"What's being used for now, a few humans took up Roses cause during the war and we needed a way to train them efficiently," Pearl said.

"That is a story I'll need to hear sometime," John said, stepping back.

"Yes it is, now Connie your mission here is not to defeat your opponent, but rather to not let your opponent from keeping you from leaving. If you make it to the warp pad without having been defeated, but the holo-Pearl is still standing then you will have passed, but not with flying colors. Strike your blade against your opponents when you are ready," Pearl said.

Connie steady herself, remembering the advice she'd been given, " _Body low, feet facing your attacker, arms in, stance wide, dominate hand above non-dominate, keep the blade low,"_ She thought. She brought her blade to the holo-Pearl's and stabbed the sword forward as Pearl had told her. Her opponent's reaction to this basic attack would allow her to judge their style and next move.

The hologram brought it's sword under her's and up. If Connie had continued with her strike she would have left her abdomen open to attack, but instead she pulled her blade inwards. Sparks flew as the two swords scraped off each other, and Connie now began to step back. She wanted distance between herself and the hologram, forcing it to close the gap. When it rushed forward, Connie would also come forward to meet it and get in close with her shorter saber.

As she expected the holo-Pearl rush to meet her, but with much more speed than she thought it would use. She had managed to put about ten feet of space between herself and the hologram, and it closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Connie had just enough time to bring up her sword, a deflect the holo-Pearls blade to the right. But this gave her a perfect opening, which she took. Glancing off the holo-Pearl's own sword, Connie brought her saber forward, and stabbed at it's abdomen. But as she was just inches from defeating her opponent, it's blade came down, knocking Connie's aside. It then brought it up, attempting to slice at her neck, causing the girl to duck. The razor sharp sword cut through a few of her hairs and she rolled to the side to avoid a downward stab at her chest. John had been right, this was much harder than she expected. But she was determined to not let herself be beaten.

Connie lay in a crouched position, her saber low across her chest. She resembled a coiled snake, waiting and ready to strike. The holo-Pearl rose, and took up it's own combat position. The two sat there black eyes filled with determination locking with flat, lifeless, white disks. Behind Connie was the stairs leading to the warp pad, and she knew that she could just turn and run. Right now she gave herself 60/40 chances for, but if she ran then the victory would be hollow. Still she wasn't in denial of her situation. She was tired, even more so now and was well aware that luck had mostly saved her.

"Go Connie!" Steven shouted, interrupting the girls thought process. Seeing its opportunity the hologram shot forward again. Connie rolled swiftly to the side, and slashed as the hologram went past. The sword connected, but only grazing it's lower thigh with barely a scratch.

The holo-Pearl whipped around, and stabbed at Connie's chest. The girl struggled to parry each rapid strike, coming at lighting speed. More sparks flew as the blades ment, and the vibrations rug through the air. Connie allowed the holo-Pearl to push her up the stairs. As the hologram tried to swing at her shoulder, Connie deflected the swing and swung her saber, trying again to cut through the holograms stomach. It twisted it's sword downwards blocking the swing and pushed the blade towards the Connie. She jumped lightly to the side, onto one of the hundreds of stone seats lining the coliseum. With her higher vantage point Connie brought her blade down, try to break her opponent's guard. Well the downward strike forced the holo-Pearls sword to the ground it was quickly able to throw Connie off the blade.

She stumbled backwards, hitting the ground on her back, winding herself. The holo-Pearl raised its sword, and swung down as though trying cleave her in two. Time slowed, and Connie watched as the razor sharp blade made it's way towards her. She rolled to the right, and pressed her body under the small lip of the stone seat above her. The sword shot past, and clattered against the marble. Connie shot out with her own saber and in two quick, decisive moves, cut the holo-Pearls feet from under it and stabbed it in the back as it fell. Breathing heavily she slumped forward, using the hilt of her sword to support. She felt Steven run up and hug her from behind.

"Wow Connie you were amazing!" He said, congratulating her. She looked at him and smiled. John and Pearl walked up behind him, Pearl's face bearing a broad smile.

"Really, good job. There were a couple of times there where I was a bit worried, but you managed really well," John said, extending his hand for a high fist bump. Connie reached up to meet him but a sharp sting on her right shoulder stopped her and caused her to wince.

"Ah," she blurted out, gripping her shoulder. When she brought her hand to it she felt something warm and a little sticky, and torn cloth. When she looked at her shoulder she saw that the cloth there was ripped and there was a small, but deep cut. Sweat dripped in and caused it to sting more and as her adrenalin rush began to wear off the stinging was replaced with a more dull, throbbing pain.

"Are you alright?" Steven asked, looking at the cut, "Do you want me to heal you?"

"Yeah , that'd be great," Connie said, sitting on one of the seats. Steven licked his finger and was about to wipe it on the cut when John stopped him.

"Alright first, Steven what are you doing?" John asked, and Connie thought she could hear a small amount of anger in his voice.

"Healing Connie," Steven replied, before releasing what it was he was doing and how it looked, "Oh right, you don't know. I have healing spit, I accidentally used it to heal Connie's eyes. That's why she doesn't have lenses in her glasses,"

"Okay then, second Pearl what happened to it stopping when it broke her guard?" John asked, his tone now much more angry.

"I don't know, maybe I did something wrong when I activated the program. It has been thousands of years after all, I probably forgot a step," Pearl said, nonchalantly, "But Connie you managed, even without the program, to not have your guard broken, and only sustained a minor injury."

Connie was about to thank her teacher for the praise, but before she could John snapped at Pearl, "You _might_ have forgotten a step? Were you watching a different sword match take place than I was? What if that strike hadn't just been a scratch? Pearl do you even grasp just how close your student came to losing her arm?!"

Pearl looked taken aback, as was Steven and Connie. But then the gravity of John's words sunk in. He was right, if she hadn't parried there, or if her sword had been a few inches short, she wouldn't have an arm right now. Infact for all she knew that sword could have gone right through her shoulder, if she had been off by a single beat she...might not be alive right now. For the first time in her life Connie could feel her mortality.

"John I understand that your angry that something could have happen but-"

"But nothing Pearl, if you're going to be this careless about this training then there is no way I'm letting anyone, especially not one of Steven's friends, take part in it. You can't just say owell, things turned out fine. That line of thinking gets people hurt, or killed," John yelled. Pearl's mouth turned to a frown, and her hands clenched into fists, but before she could say something Steven stepped in.

"John, look people make mistakes, and Connie's fine. It happens, just let it go," Steven said. John looked at him, then at Connie.

"Really John it's fine," she said, trying her best to sound convincing. She knew that he saw right through it, but the Marine relented.

"We will talk about this later, right now let's get you home," John said, turning and making his way towards the warp pad. Pearl straightened herself and followed after him.

"Are you really okay?" Steven asked, having healed Connie's cut, "It's fine if you don't want to do this anymore."

"No, Steven, that's not it. I'm just...a little shaken, that's all," Connie said, not sure if it was Steven she was reassuring him or herself. She did still want to fight with Steven and the Gems, but she was slowly coming to realize what that really entailed. There was something else bothering her, " _John had been in complete support of this. Sure something really bad could have happened, but he almost seemed to do a 180 on his view on her training,"_ She thought.

Steven nodded, and the two made their way to the warp pad. When they got there Pearl and John were standing opposite from each other and neither looked like they wanted to speak to the other. Connie hoped that they could move past this. Pearl activated the warp pad and they were off in another stream of light.

* * *

 **Chapter Ten, man was this a tough one. Partially due to lack of motivation, but much more due to school and** _ **sickness**_ **. But it's done and I want to go over some things cause I know that they will either get a negative response or be just confusing. First, the beginning part with Lars and Sadie I added partially to foreshadow and partially to show a part of John's character that is going to become much more prevalent later on in the story. Second the reason that John got so angry about the training will be completely explained in the next chapter, but If you take some time to process his character and the training that he would have gone through (hi reaction begins to make more sense. I kinda of wanted to have some form of tension between him and Pearl on this, but pretty much any other kind I could think of would have been waaaaaaay more forced than this feels. Also I want to make it clear, This is NOT a finished arch, not by a long shot. The next chapter is probably going to pick up right where this one left off. The reason I didn't do Connie's training all in one chapter is because as John said: "The mastery of any weapon takes years of practice," and I really think that there is a lot more that could be gotten out of doing this over a couple of chapters, with brief interruptions for the gems to go on mission and such, than to try and cram it all into one or two chapter. Finally I need to address something, eventually I am going to take a pretty massive turn off of the cannon and might not be coming back to it. I don't think I can tell a story better than the crewniverse and this isn't going to be any time soon, probably some time after the end of season four or even three. But I do eventually want to tell my complete own story with these characters. To those who follow and don't want to see this change I'm sorry, but take heart that it's a loooooooong way off. Other than that I just have my usual beg for reviews, OH and I almost forgot I found John's theme. I will leave a link and (although I doubt they would or even really could sue me over it) I DO NOT OWN THIS SONG.**

 **watch?v=_15CDPlvPrc &list=PLqwb0SarteoKLQpWun2qybnt4AI9YrzNx&index=3**


	11. Chapter 11 Time To Talk

**Chapter Eleven**

 **Time to Talk**

Once they landed Pearl took the swords from Connie and John and retreated in too her room. Connie looked to Steven, and he only shrugged. He had told her about times when Pearl and Amethyst would get into it and this certainly wasn't too different from that. It was more John reaction to the whole thing that bothered her. Connie looked back at the torn cloth that had covered her shoulder. She had no idea how she was going to explain this to her parents. If she had enough time she could maybe sew it to the point where it wouldn't be noticed.

"Hey John what time is it?" She asked. She knew that it was nearing time for her to came home, but if she could she wanted to fix her dress. At the very least make not look so obvious. The frayed ends of cloth almost seem to act as a signal fire, bring attention to the cut almost immediately.

"It's 5 till 7, what time do you need to be home?" John asked, looking at his watch.

"7:30, you wouldn't happen to have a sewing kit on you by any chance?" Connie asked.

"Yes, but the colors of thread are going to be camouflage pattern colors since it's for my various uniforms," He replied, reaching into his left chest pocket and pulled out a small black box. Connie took it, and opened it. Inside were 7 spoils of black, dark and light green, tan, brown, navy blue, red, and gray tread, along with a collection of needles.

"Thanks, mind if I get it back to you tomorrow, I kinda need it to fix this," She said, pointing to her shoulder. John nodded, understanding. Connie turned to ask Steven if his dad could give her a ride, only to see him already on the phone. She smiled to herself, and sat down, beginning to work on sowing the tear shut enough that her dad wouldn't notice. Luckily her mom was working late tonight at the hospital so her keen eyes wouldn't be there to spot any quick fix she made. After threading the needle she began to push through the cloth, sowing the gash shut. Connie hated it at first, but was no thankful that her mom had made her take that clothing mending class. With each weave the two pieces of cloth came closer together until finally it almost look good as new. Almost, bits of tattered thread still stuck out from the cut and really if you looked close you could see that the thread used was a different color blue than the rest of the dress, but it would work. Maybe she wouldn't have to keeping the sewing kit until tomorrow after all. She got up and turned to see Steven with a dejected look.

"My dad said that he got a rush of military guys with mud caked cars and he won't be able to take you home," He said, "Maybe if we go now we could walk there and make it in time."

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa, hang on a minute. I can give you a ride," John offered, pulling a pair of keys from pocket.

"No, John really it's fine. It's only a half walk if we make go time and my dad will understand," Connie said.

"I will hear nothing of it, I part of the reason you got injured today, and I'm at least 50% of the reason Steven's dad can't give you a ride. Besides, have you ever ridden in a HUMVEE?" John said, twirling the keys around his finger.

"Well no, but really-"

"If you promise to share then I'll let you sit in the gunners cupola," John said.

"What's a gunner's cupola?" Steven asked.

"Kinda like a sunroof, but with a machine gun, and before you ask no you may not shoot the machine gun. At least not today," John said. Connie looked at Steven and the look on his face sealed the deal

"Alright, but I think I'll stick to the passenger's seat," Connie said. John shrugged and the trio made their way down the house steps to the line of parked vehicles on the beach. John opened the door to one and climbed into the driver's seat. With a roar the engine started to life and John reached over, pushing the front passenger door open. Connie climbed inside, and was surprised at the amount of stuff that was crammed into the front space of the truck. There were at least a dozen different types of communications equipment in just in the dash board.

"What's all this stuff for?" she asked as she buckled her seatbelt. She turned to see Steven climbing into a raised up seat and poke his head out of the opening in the roof of the cab.

"It's to keep a platoon running. If need be this whole HUMVEE could be dug in and used as a command post for a unit of several hundred. I could coordinate troop movements, artillery or airstrikes, or an evacuation with this vehicle's on board comms. No hopefully I won't just have this and some P-77s at my disposal," John said, pulling out of the line of vehicles, and turning the truck towards the city, "Now I could go on and on about all the cool configurations and different uses for the HUMVEE, but you have somewhere to be. You know the way to get home or should I use gps?"

"No I can give directions," Connie said, "Just turn onto the beach access road and then left onto Boardwalk street. From there it's a right once you get to the end of the street and then another left,"

"Alright," John said. Connie could tell he wanted to say something and she actually wanted to ask him a few things, but wasn't sure how to say so. She still, especially after her training, wasn't sure how she felt about John. He certainly seemed to have good intentions, and his anger with Pearl was justified. But she knew, probably much more than Steven or even the Gems, what his job really was. After she'd meet with him a few times to help act as a witness of the Gem's heroic duties her mother had decided to see what she could find on him. After a lengthy internet search most of what her mom had found was newspaper articles on his unit or short, two sentence interviews about his deployments over seas. But none of them really gave any information beyond where he was at the time and none of them were from before 2004 and the second Gulf war. But all of them said one big thing, he was a soldier and that meant that he'd killed. Maybe it had been for good reason, but still the thought of sitting this close to someone who had taken another person's life made Connie shudder.

"There is another reason that I insisted on taking you home. I wanted to talk to you about today's training. I get that you want to be there for Steven, it's nice he has a friend like you," John said, still looking ahead, "But I want to make sure that you, both of you, understand what this training is, what it really entails. If you really want to be there for Steven on the battlefield you have to come to terms with the fact that you will be putting your life in danger and that you may have to take the life of another."

That last part is what hit home with Connie. She'd had no misconceptions about the danger to herself, but she didn't know if she could bring herself to really kill. It frightened her, a lot more than her own life being endangered.

"But John you only need to poof gems and bubble them, there's no need to actually...you know," Steven said, poking his head down in between them. Connie nodded in agreement, but when she looked at John she saw him shaking his head.

"That's if there's only one or two threats and if you have the ability to bubble them. Trust me, I've seen gem monsters take round after round after round,and poof, only to reform minutes or even seconds later. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do," John said, still looking forward. He was gripping the steering wheel tighter now and his eyes seem locked forward, "I wish we lived in a world where killing could always be avoided, and maybe if we could all see where our decisions would lead it could be, but sometimes push comes to shove and it's you or them."

Connie nodded, understanding. She didn't like what he said, or what it represented, but she could see the thought process behind it. John had seen war, and not the kind the gems had fought in. His perspective was very much shaped by he experience. They sat in silence for awhile before Connie spoke.

"There's also something that's been bothering me. During my training when I slipped and Pearl went to help me up I slashed at the paddles and when I looked at you you looked almost proud," Connie said.

"Yes, I was," John replied nonchalantly.

"What?! But it's was a cheap move, a lowly, dirty cheat," Connie exclaimed. She didn't know much about the Marines, but she thought they had a strong sense of honor.

"It war there's no such thing as cheating, and honor on in the field is for the stupid. This country was founded using cheap moves, during the Revolution American troops would disperse into small group and fire ant British officers rather than stand in lines and fire in volleys like most armies did at the time," John said, with a slight laugh.

"But this was training and even more in swordsmanship, shouldn't there be some honor attached?" Connie asked.

"No, there shouldn't. Honor is useful in agreements, and in promises, but in combat there is no such thing. There's only who's standing and who isn't," John said, "I'm not telling you to be a lying, back stabbing, good for nothing, but I'm making you aware of a reality. In combat, and in war there are rules, unwritten and unspoken. The second is always win, cheat if necessary."

"What's the first," Steven asked.

"Losing means death or worse," John said, and for a moment everyone sat in silence, "I want to be clear to both of you, I'm not trying to discourage you from pursuing this. Infact I think it would be very good for you to have knowledge in some form of combat, being Steven's friend and all. But Connie if you really want to you need to know everything that it entails."

Connie nodded in agreement, after all when she went along with the whole thing it was really just sparked by Steven. It wasn't that she had just up and reversed her whole stance on it but John was right, this had a lot to it that she wasn't quite sure if she could handle. She needed to think, there was part of her who really did want to be there for Steven if something happened again. But then there was the other part of her, the part that was still shaken by what had happened in the arena. The part that feared the darker things that taking up a sword would mean. Once again they sat in silence, until finally Connie's neighborhood came into view.

"Turn right here and stop at the third house in the left," Connie said, point to her home. It was A townhouse in a long row of others, all built from soft sandstone brick and covered with cheap plastic siding. John pulled into the driveway and shut off the engine. Connie was about to open her door when John stopped her.

"There's one more thing, you are still a minor and ,as I've said, the only reason I've really been in support of you getting actual combat training is because you're Steven's friend and you'll eventually be put in danger by proxy. But this is a big commitment and as I said you are still a minor, sit down and have a talk with your parents about this before they find out under less than ideal circumstances. Especially if you have any interest in training with me, because I will not let you within five feet of a rifle without there permission," John said. Connie opened her mouth to say there was no way her parents would ever let her do something like this, but then stopped. He was right, if they found out she'd been using swords and learning how to fight behind their backs they would never let her hang out with Steven again.

All three of the occupants of the vehicle jumped as someone knocked on the passenger side window. Connie looked over to see her dad peering inside, with a wide eyed look, "Connie I didn't know that Greg had bought a jeep,"

John, Connie, and Steven stepped out and Connie ran forward to meet her dad. She gave him a quick hug and turned to say goodbye to Steven. Her dad and John began to talk so Connie took this opportunity to talk to Steven. She pulled him to the porch and sat down, patting the stop next to her to tell him to do the same.

"You know it's really fine if you don't what to do the training any more. It was kind of a rushed idea and it had a lot more to it than I thought," Steven said rubbing the back of his neck.

"No Steven, I meant everything I said to Pearl and I do really want to be there for you. It's just a lot all at once...maybe we should've taken more than a day to jump head long into it," Connie said with a smile.

"Yeah, I guess it has only been just a day. I just…' Steven stopped, clearly trying to figure out what to say, "You remember when Lapis took the ocean and when we were fighting her she tried to drown us?"

"Yeah, that was pretty scary," Connie said remembering the feeling of the cold, salty, water beginning to pour into her lungs, and shuddered.

"And remember when I looked like those government guys might take me and the gems," Steven said.

"Yeah, but John and all of Beach City told them what you were really like," Connie replied.

"I just...I just worry that if you really get involved in my craziness that you might get hurt and I don't" Steven choked up before he could finish. Connie paused, and then out her arms around him in a hug. She held him close for a few seconds before letting him go and looking him in the eye.

"Steven I'm your friend and no matter what I'm going to get involved in your at least a little bit of your crazy, might as well go all in. I want to be a part of your universe," She said with a smile. Steven smiled and hugged her again and then rubbed his eyes clear of the tears that had welled up. They stayed like that for a moment, just close to each other and enjoying the other's company, until Connie's dad came over.

"Hey kiddo, John told me what'd happened with Greg, but next time you need to let me or your mother no if things change like this," Doug said, "Now your mother texted a few minutes ago to say that she'd be working late tonight so we can do pizza or the leftover curry from last night,"

"Why not curry pizza?" Steven chimed in and Connie giggled.

"Because…hmmm," Doug said, considering the idea, "Well now that I think of it, why not."

"What's this we're why noting?" John asked coming up behind Doug.

"Oh, I was just asking Connie what were should have for dinner and Steven recommend we combine my two suggestions into curry pizza," Doug said to John.

"That sounds delicious, but Steven and I need to head back to the temple," John said. Steven turned to Connie and gave her one last hug before hopping into the HUMVEE with John and leaving. Connie walked inside with her dad, still talking about what they wanted to do for dinner.

* * *

John pulled the HUMVEE back into the line with the other and shut off the engine. He didn't like that they were stuck using old Army models that still required keys, but one of the main things that had allowed his unit to work here was that they were being supplied vehicles by the local National Guard unit and not the Marine Corps itself, unless the vehicle was mission critical. Steven jumped down into the passenger's seat next to him.

"Hey John,"

"Yeah Steven?"

"I know you're still probably mad at Pearl for what happened, but please don't yell at her. She just made a mistake. If you really need to say something, just do it calmly okay," Steven said, putting a hand on John shoulder. John sighed, trying to figure how he was going to go about this. On one hand he just wanted to go ballistic, and berate Pearl for being so careless. At least then she wouldn't do it again, but he also might lose his chance at befriending her. Of all the gems she seemed the least for giving of their arrest and well she hadn't outwardly said anything, there was still a feeling of distrust and resentment.

"Steven I don't want to yell at her. I simply want her to understand that what happened today cannot happen again. I've seen all too well what negligence can lead to," John said, looking off into the distance, " _Especially my own,"_

"Alright, but maybe give it a day or two," Steven said, "Pearl might still be a little heated."

"No, that's silly. Pearl is a grown gem, well over thousands of years old. If she can't put aside her pride to have a simple conversation about the dangers of her training then that's all the more reason as to why she shouldn't be doing it," John said, a little annoyed. He opened the car door and made his way up the steps to the house. He opened the screen door to find just the gem he was looking for making a pot of tea.

"Hello John," Pearl said dismissively.

"Pearl look, I know that I snapped at you at the sky arena and that you're probably mad because of how I spoke. But I need you to understand that what happened today can't happen again. A mistake is a mistake until someone gets hurt, then it's a tragedy," John said, trying to be diplomatic. He sat at the counter across from her and reach for a mug.

"Well it won't," Pearl replied, again dismissively. She turned and began to walk away.

"Woah, hang on a minute. Where do you think you're going?" John asked, standing up to stop her.

"I said to won't happen, so there is nothing more to discuss," Pearl said and continued to walk towards the temple entrance. John stepped forward and blocked her path. This was not the way he'd wanted things to go.

"Pearl, we still need to talk about why a mistake happened, and how we can prevent it. If you're going to act like this, I will make good on my threat and not let you train Connie," John said, and was a little pleased to see that stop her.

"And who will train her if she still decides she wants to be a warrior? Besides you can't watch me and her 24/7," Pearl said looking John in the eye.

"No, but I can tell her parents what happened and they'll-"

"Never let Connie see Steven again. I've meet the Maheswarans and know just how protective they are. Would you really ruin Stevens friendship just to spite me," Pearl said, and no it was John's turn to be stopped.

"I'm not trying to spite you, I'm trying to come to a common understanding so we can avoid accidents like the one that happened today. Do you still not get that Connie was inches for being cut in half" John said, through gritted teeth. Maybe Steven had been right and he should've waited a few days, but there was no backing down now.

"She was fine, and blocked the attack just as I instructed her too," Pearl retorted.

"It's been one day Pearl, you need to be more careful. I want you to train Connie, I think it would be great for the both of you. But if you won't take the measures to make sure that she is safe during it then I can't allow it," John said, "I've seen too many people get literally torn apart but negligence and pride,"

"Fine, I'll be more careful and I'll make sure as best I can that Connie doesn't get hurt in training," Pearl said. John sighed, this was probably the best answer he was going to get out of her and so he stepped aside and let her walk into the temple. He looked over his shoulder as she entered. The room he saw was huge, with massive pillars of moving water cascading down.

"Pearl just remember, Connie's not like us," John said as she walked into the room and the doors shut behind her. With that John bid Steven good night and began to walk back into town. Half of his forces were camped on the beach, acting as a first line of defense should Malachite or Peridot show up. The other half were sleeping in hotel rooms that had been rented out on a discount well the military tried to figure out more permeate housing. As he walked in the cool September air, he pulled out and lit a cigar. The smoke would help him to clear his head, and get him to sleep. He knew he wouldn't sleep well tonight. The sky arena made memories a too fresh.

* * *

 _It was week 4 of MARSOC training and John found himself once again being hosed with ice cold water well live 7.62mm traces whizzed above his head. He was crawling under rows upon rows of barbed wire, in watery mud, that threatened to drown you._

" _COME ON YOU SORRY FUCKS! YOU CALL THAT MOVING?! YOUR ASSES COULDN'T MOVE TO KEEP JODY FROM FUCKING YOUR MOM!" The SI screamed. More ice cold water poured over John as the SI hit him with the full force of the water cannon. Gasping for breath, and clinging to his M16A4 for dear life he pushed forward._

" _Sargent Instructor, I'm stuck on the wire," A cadet yelled out. John couldn't tell who it was over the noise of the water and machine guns._

" _WELL UNSTICK YOURSELF DIPSHIT!" The SI yelled, moving the water cannon to spray the unfortunate cadet. John took the opportunity to crawl forward another couple of feet towards the end of the river of mud. The machine gunner fired a line of rounds a few feet infront of John, causing mud and grit to spray him. 4 weeks ago John would've got up and punched the lights out of the guy, but now the thought of even trying never entered his mind._

" _Sergeant Instructor it's caught on my boot, I need to take it off," The cadet yelled again, the SI having moved to other targets._

" _IF I FIND THAT YOU ABANDONED YOUR BOOT IN THAT MUD I WILL SHOVE YOUR FOOT, WITH IT, SO FAR UP YOUR ASS YOU'LL NEED TO USE BOOT POLISH INSTEAD OF TOOTHPASTE!" The SI screamed at._

" _Sargent Instructor, I can't untangle it without standing up," the cadet replied._

" _THEN STAND THE FUCK UP! YOU THINK HAJIS GONNA STOP SHOOTING SO YOU CAN TAKE A ROCK OUT OF YOUR BOOT?!" the SI screamed in reply. John looked over as the cadet looked around for a moment before standing and unlacing his boot. The machine gun emplacements the platoon 1st SI was closests to began to fire around him, but the ones farther down the line either didn't see him stand up or didn't care. John watch in horror as a round ripped through the cadets upper back, sending him to the ground screaming and writhing in pain._

" _AHHH, I CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING! I CAN'T FEEL IT!" he screamed his body convulsing and throwing up mud. The screaming made John's blood run cold._

" _JESUS! Cease Fire! Cease Fire On The Firing Line!" the SI yelled, jumping down into the mud. He walk over to the wounded cadet, still convulsing on the ground. Two other cadets were already there, having pulled him down from the wire._

" _He's hit in the spine Sergeant Instructor, ripped through the top, just below his shoulder blades," One of the them said well the other tried to calm his wounded comrade._

" _It's okay Mack, it'll be all fine. You go to a nice hospital with clean, comfy, white sheats and cute nurse who'll baby you all day long. It'll be fine Mack," the other cadet said, but his words fell on deaf ears. The wounded cadet had stopped screaming, instead replaced by a soft sobbing sound. Occasionally he would mumble something but John was to far off to make it out. The whole platoon sat and listened to the crying of a broken man, well they wanted for the Crops Man to arrive._

* * *

John let out another puff of smoke as the memory faded. He couldn't allow something like that to happen again, especially not to someone like Connie. She was too bright to have her life destroyed by carelessness. He'd made it to the hotel were he was staying. The neon sign in the parking lot read _Beach Bunk Hotel,_ and the parking lot was filled with mostly HUMVEEs. It was really more of a motel, but still fell under hotel because it offered different suites and room service. John climbed the outside steps to his room and entered. He flicked on the light, put out his cigar, and flicked on the tv to the news.

" _-Troops continue to pour into the southern provinces of Herat, Badghis, and, Farah to push back Rasul Allah fighters believed to be coming from neighboring Iran, but with no hard intelligence the US and Coalition forces cannot make an offensive move into Iranian territory._

 _In other news the search for the alien device believed to be responsible for the loss of much of the Atlantic ocean 6 months ago has gained more support and a new target has been found. The thing responsible for the loss of the ocean is what is known as a gem fusion and is two of the three alien gems that returned to Earth less than a month the officer incharge of operations there decline an interview we were not able to obtain one with the troops who faced the gem fusion's two parts, but we were able to get one with the Naval crew who are actively searching for it, more on that after these messages,"_

John sighed and got up, walking over to the mini-fridge. He reach in a grabbed a tv dinner to eat. After finishing his meal he began to go towards the bathroom to brush his teeth. After going through his bedtime ritual, the Marine fell onto his bed. Within minutes he was asleep.

* * *

 **Chapter 11, and it didn't take me two whole weeks. Hopefully with fall break I'll be able to push out another one by the weekend, but who knows. Any how I so desperately want to explain my thought process behind John and Pearl argument, because there is one and it (hopefully) makes sense. But I also kind of just what my writing to speak for itself and leave you, the reader, to figure it out. So what I'll do is if there is a massive outcry of: "WTF this makes no sense what?" then I'll realise a quick segment explaining the thought process. I have also be rereading this to make sure I'm not opening any plot holes and realize that one: John ran away from home way younger then I wanted him to. Don't know what I was thinking with having him leave at 8 but yeah, I'm a retcon that. I hate doing such things, but it makes a lot of John's childhood kind of hard to write (if I even write it, kinda 40/60 against at this point) if he just dipped out from his dad and sister at age 8. I think I may have meant to write that that's when his mom died. Two: in chapter one or two I point out that a city called Kubal that John was deployed at, in Afghanistan, was about the size of Beach City. At the time I forgot that Kabul is Afghanistan's capital. However as a write this I'm getting a weird deja vu feeling like I came across this before and may have already fixed it. If not the name of the town I was referring to is Kal Mual. (Man that deja vu is coming on strong) Anyway that's eleven and right now I'm 50/50 on how I want 12 to go, but I'm leaning towards another mission, we'll see.**


	12. Chapter 12 My Knight

**Chapter Twelve**

 **My Knight**

It'd been about two weeks since the incident with the holo-Pearl at the sky arena and John was pleased to see that Pearl had taken his words to heart. She was going at a slower pace with the training and being careful to make sure that Connie wasn't seriously hurt. Connie had made excellent strides during her training and was now onto taking on multiple opponents at once. John had even, when he wasn't in the command tent coordinating operations and logistics or in the field acting as oversight, taken her aside to instruct her on bayonet and hand to hand combat, which she took to with much vigor. Currently they were in the middle of a sparring match, John wielding a full size M16 trainer with a rubber bayonet on it's end and Connie with a shorter M4 carbine trainer. Both had doned padded training helmets and pads, giving them the look of foam knights. Pearl and Steven stood back and watched, their eyes glued to the pair as they dueled. Connie took a stab at John's face, only to have it knocked aside and have to deflect the butt of his rifle as he brought it up. John twisted around, putting force behind his swing to try and knock the smaller opponent aside. But Connie turned her rifle to the side and braced against the swing, causing vibrations to shoot through the weapon. John grit his teeth and clenched his fist to keep himself from dropping it and brought his rifle back. Connie made several quick strikes, trying to break the Marines guard, if only for a second. John knew it'd be all she'd need, each strike can almost immediately after the last, but he held firm. Finally Connie bounded back, breathing heavily, but face determined.

"Come on charge me, you know you can't break my guard," John said mockingly, trying to break Connie's focus. But the girl stood firm, her eyes locked forward. She thrust forward again, and tried to bring her bayonet to the side to slash at John exposed ribs. But he was fast, bringing the butt of his rifle down to block the attack, and bouldered forward. Connie side stepped, and John rushed past. As he sailed past her she brought the butt of her on rifle down on his back, causing him to stumble. He was lucky she did so, as it gave him time to dive below her next swing with the bayonet at the back of his neck.

John rolled to the side and thrust upwards with his bayonet, trying to slice her cest. Connie jumped back, just out of range of the attack. She continued to skip backwards, putting distance between herself and the Marine. With about 15 feet of ground between the two they lowered themselves, preparing to charge. John had taught her to keep herself low during a bayonet charge, to make she self a smaller target, and to put more power behind her stride. It made it harder to shoulder a rifle, but it made you more effective in the ensuing hand to hand melee. They ran forward at each other, both realising a strong battle cry, before they ment. John rolled to the side of Connie's charge and brought his bayonet down, across her back. He would have made contact if she hadn't dove to the ground, causing his bayonet to sail just millimeters from her. She turned and brought her own up to slice his throat. The strike missed, but John had taught her well, and she whipped the butt of her carbine around almost immediately. John managed to bring his rifle butt up, and caught the swing between the stock and pistol grip. With a twist he ripped the carbine from her grasp, leaving her defenseless.

Connie took a moment's pause and lunged forward tackling him, a fierce fight over the weapon beginning. John rolled on top of her, trying to pin the smaller opponent, well he reached to take to bayonet off the end of his M16 to stab her. Just as he got it off he felt a sharp pain shoot through him, staring at his crotch, and rolled over in the fetal position. Connie picked up her rifle and tapped John lightly with the bayonet, "Dead," she heaved.

"Cheap move asshole," John mumbled through gritted teeth, trying his best not to writhe in pain.

"What's the second rule of warfare?" Connie asked rhetorically, "Oh right, always win, cheat if necessary."

Pearl and Steven walked over, congratulating Connie and helped the Marine up. He grunted as they pulled him to his feet.

"Well done Connie," Pearl said, supporting John.

"Yeah, you were awesome!" Steven said, causing Connie to blush. Pearl helped John hobble over to one of the seats to recuperate. Connie and Steven walked over to sit down and so Connie could rest.

"Are you okay John?" Steven asked

"Been better," He grunted , "If any of you could get a bag of ice that'd be great."

Steven got up and ran to the warp pad to get an ice pack. John leaned back and waited for him to return. In the meantime he pulled out his phone to check progress on locating Peridot. With the most recent missions failure and the need for a company commander on the ground, well a company still remained, John had elected that he, Steven, and Pearl would remain at Beach City with the main force well Garnet, Amethyst, and King searched various locations, with the understanding that they would switch roles about every two weeks. Well not the most military or secure way of communication his phone did provide an easy means of keeping in the loop. Kings most recent texts showed that no progress had been made in terms of catching Peridot, but Amethyst had made some friends by eating anything from rocks to shotgun shells.

John was glad that his Marines were getting along with their new allies, though he really couldn't be surprised. The Corps itself was made of people from all different backgrounds and castes, and the Raiders only added a more professional and elite approach to that mix. Plus his whole company had spent countless hours training with armies of a dozen different nations, so befriending sentain rock aliens wasn't too much of a stretch now was it. He was snapped out of his train of thought by Pearl speaking, "Connie, could I talk with you on your technique for a moment?"

"Yes ma'am," Connie said, standing immediately. John was impressed at her discipline, if she ever got around to talking to her parents about it marksmanship would be a breeze for her.

" _Where is that kid?"_ John wondered, his groin still throbbing. He pulled out one of his cigars, pot would help kill the pain. As he smoked he began to drift off, the world fading around him. Little did he know this was what Pearl was hoping for.

* * *

"Now Connie what have I taught you that is most important?" Pear asked, after looking over to make sure the Marine was not listening. She knew John wouldn't understand, and if he over heard her he would destroy all of the progress she'd made with the girl.

"Always keep my guard up," Connie answered confidently. Pearl sighed, this one of the many things she'd taught the girl, but she still was no fully indoctrinated.

"No, Steven matters most. You must always remember that Connie, as his knight he comes before me, before John, before Garnet or Amethyst, and most of all before you," Pearl said sternly. Connie fell silent and nodded in understanding, "In the heat of battle Steven matters, you don't matter. You must ready and willing to put him before yourself."

"Yes ma'am," Connie said, meeting Pearls gaze with a determined look. Pearl was glad Connie was taking so well to this. Steven was after all in need of a knight like she herself had been for Rose and Connie's reception to the mental side of her training made her all that more effective as a warrior. She needed to be able to fight and die for Steven if she were to be a true knight. To be ready to cast herself aside for the one she gave her service to.

"Now let's get some sparring practice in well we what for Steven to return," Pearl said, walking back to the seats and picked up two swords, her own and Connie's training saber. She handed the smaller saber to her student and took the larger for herself. They brought their blades together, standing arms length apart.

"Now don't let me get past you, because if I do then I will have _killed_ Steven," Pearl said, emphasizing the word and meeting her students eyes. Connie nodded and they stepped back. There was a pause before Pearl rushed forward, slashing her sword down across Connie. The small girl brought her own blade up blocking the attack and whirled around to slice at Pearl's exposed side. Pearl stepped out of range of the attack, bringing her sword back down as to sever Connie's arms. Connie deftly rolled away for the attack and sprang forward from her low crouch, stabbing a Pearls chest. Pearl knocked Connie's sword aside, but it went lightly. Pearl's sword, having had a great amount of force behind it's swing, sailed past Connie who landed just inside of Pearl's blade's reach. The longer rapier would be useless so close, but Connie with her short saber would still have just enough room to slash down across Pearl's chest. Pearl brought her sword in as much as she could, and pushed forward, slamming Connie backwards. Connie stumbled backwards, but quickly recovered and charging Pearl with a flurry of blows.

Each strike land mere millisecond after the last, a Pearl found herself being pushed back with the flurry of blows. Each one would make an opening, but before Pearl could take advantage of it another swing would came at her. Seeing an opening Connie stabbed forward, going lower for Pearls abdomen. But Pearl deflected the stab, twisting her students saber up and giving her the window to make her our series of rapid swings. Now on the offensive Pearl uses her superior size to try and push the smaller opponent down into the ground. Connie leaned back, and slid under Pearls legs, ready to strike but then Pearl walked forward and swung at the air in front of her. She then whirled around and looked at Connie, face full of anger.

"Did you forget that you were supposed to protect Steven?" Pearl said, voice seething with anger. Connie stood, her saber low at her side and face plastered with a look of confusion.

"But you didn't get past my guard. I deflected every one of your strikes," Connie replied.

"No, but I did get past you, or rather you let me get past you. Had Steven been standing behinding you he would be in two right now!" Pearl almost yelled. Whenever John wasn't around Pearl had been teaching Connie to alway put Steven first, but apparently not enough.

"But-"

'But nothing, you failed in you mission and now your liege, now Steven, is dead. You cannot be so careless Connie. What if this were a real battle?" Pearl said, causing Connie to drop her gaze. Pearl sighed, she was being hard on the girl, but if Connie was going to be a knight she needed to be able to to see past herself. Connie took a path that had better guaranteed her own safety. Pearl sighed, she was getting better but not quite ready to actually be there for Steven.

"That's enough sparring for now, we'll do more later," Pearl said, "You've come far Connie, maybe soon it would be time for a real test, something to really put yourself up against, something to gauge your just your combat skill. It has grow better and I would like to see if you could be ready for more rigorous exercises."

"Yes ma'am," Connie said, meeting Pearls eyes. Pearl smiled, it was nice to see her student recover so quickly from a failure. She looked back over to John. He was still asleep and Steven was nowhere to be found. Maybe the boy had warped to the wrong pad, it wouldn't be the first time.

Pearl went over to John to wake him. He'd fallen asleep with one of his blasted cigars in his mouth and now it had fallen on his uniform, threatening to catch it on fire. How she despised them, filling the air with their foul smoke, and horrid smell. The Marine had even tried to get her to try one, but she would never. Just as the act of eating evaded her she would never understand why humans would willingly chose to inhale smoke. At least eating served some sort of purpose, " _Look at yourself, thinking like one of the Diamonds upper elite where everything requires reason. Oh what would Rose think of you now."_

"John...John," Pearl said, gently shaking the man. He was faintly mumbling something she couldn't make out, "John, wake up."

Suddenly his eyes flew open, and his hand shot out, latching on to Pearls wrist with a vice like grip. His eyes were wild, flicking around to examine their surroundings as though trying to see everything at once. His other hand had somehow made it to his pistol, which he was halfway through drawing before he seemed to snap back to reality. His eyes stopped darting every which way, and his grip on Pearl's arm lessened, "Sorry, just a little jumpy."

Pearl pulled her arm back, rubbing the part he'd grabbed. It was red and sore, "Are you sure you're all right? You were saying something in your sleep," Pearl asked.

"I'm fine," the Marine snapped and stopped, realising how harsh his tone was, "Just a little tense after the sparring with little missy over there and tried, I didn't sleep well last night."

"Hey it was you that taught me to use everything to my advantage," Connie replied with a smirk.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're too smart for your own good?" John asked, leaning back. It was clear he was still trying to put on a brave face.

"No, just that I'm too smart for your's," Connie replied. Pearl was glad she'd found this dynamic with John. She'd known the Marine put her off at first, but soon the girl had lightened up to him. She'd grown so much more confident in these few days.

"Touche little lady," John said, "Hey where's Steven with that ice pack? He should be back by now,"

"I don't know, but Connie and I were just about to take a quick breather from training, and figured you'd probably want to go back to the house to get some ice to treat your, injury," Pearl said, extending her hand to help him up. He waved her hand aside and began to stand, before his face filled with a combination of regret and agony and he half sat, half fell, back into his seat.

"Come on John, there's no need to put on a tough face in front of friends," Pearl said, going to support him on her shoulder. Connie help her and the trio made their way back to their warp pad. In a flash of light they were back at the house, and much to everyone's surprise stood King, Garnet, and Amethyst. Steven was sitting on the counter, ice pack in hand

"Hey I thought you were supposed to be out in the field for another day," John said, hobbling over to Steven to get the ice pack.

"Well due to a lack of any progress on finding Peridot and trouble with our communications equipment we figured we'd come back see what was happening here and see if we could get our comms fixed," King replied, "If you'd bother to check your phone you've known, and I still think that using a non secure channel is a bad idea,"

"King it's fine, besides I can't in the ops room 24/7. Especially not when I'm helping our newest warrior in training," John said, flopping on the couch, and throwing an ice pack in between his thighs.

"So you've been learning to kill from this guy?" King asked, causing both Pearl and Connie to be taken aback by how nonchalantly he said it. The two paused not sure who should talk first, before John spoke.

"Well at first Connie was taking sword lessons from Pearl and I was sort of acting as just a teachers assistant, adding whatever words of advice I had were I could. But now I've started teaching Connie more directly, and have relearned a hard lesson," John said, trying to ease the all to apparent tension. Pearl knew what she was teaching the girl, but she hadn't quite gotten to that stage yet, and wasn't quite sure how. There was more to the act than simply doing it.

"Which would that be," King asked, eyebrow raised.

"Always wear a cup, but enough about us what exactly has be junking up the P-77s?" John asked.

"We aren't exactly sure, and IT has no real guess as to the problem beyond that it was probably the area we were in. Close range comms had no effects until we warped to Nevada, but that one we figured might have been due to the warp stream. We weren't even near a gem location, the warp pad was just in the middle of the desert," King explained, tossing John one of the PRC-152s that his team had used.

"Did you find anything that could give us some direction on our target," John asked.

"No, Peridot continued to evade us well we searched, and everywhere that would have provided her some means off world looked untouched," Garnet explained, "Has you team of analysts been able to pull anything from her escape pod?"

"Yes a little, but it's all in a script we can't read, mostly resembling scribbles," John replied, handing the radio back to King.

"Well if gem language hasn't changed in the past 5,000 years to drastically we should be able to read it," Pearl, commented, "And even if it had, I'm sure that I could decipher it with enough time,"

"So at least maybe we can figure way she is on earth in the first place, and what the purpose of those _things_ was," John said, grimacing at the memory of the fusing experiments. Pearl remembered them, feeling a pit of both fear and sadness form in her chest. But she shook the thoughts from her head, she'd dealt with them after the war had ended, and she'd dealt with them on her own after they'd hunted down the fusions. Bringing them back to mind would serve no other purpose than to open up old wounds.

"What we learn is entirely dependent on what we found, for all we know sir we might just have the operating manual," King pointed out.

"Far enough, but we might aswell go see their progress. Plus it is my job to debrief you on your most recent assignment," John said standing with a slight grimace. John and King turned and made their way out the door. Pearl watched them go and then turned to her student. There was work to be done.

* * *

John walked down the steps from Stevens house and towards the tent where the company command center was. Well downsized from what a full strength company would have the canvas room was filled with radio chatter and tables covered with maps from all over the world. At the back of the room hung a map of Earth and another of the Northern Hemisphere. Both were covered in marks for various warp pad locations and units in the field. The map was dotted with dozen of warp pad locations. With Kings team having returned there were now three teams of Johns Marines in the field, two naval teams one being the 3rd MEU and elements of the Navy's 4th Fleet in the Atlantic and the 5th Fleet in the Pacific, and another 4 IPA member teams operating internationally. Last contact with Peridot was over 3 days ago when member of the 22nd SAS regiment had encountered her in upper Wales. Even with portions of 8 of the world's most powerful militaries and intelligence services Peridot still remained on the loose, and now with Kings team out of action their effectiveness had been farther limited. John walked over to the table for Hammer team or the section of Bowser's weapons platoon acting as the QRF. With the lack of contact with Peridot and the lack of activity in the kindergarten Bowser had been sitting on the sidelines and John knew there was nothing worse than a bored Marine. Lt. Bowser and his platoon sergeant were huddled over the fold out table, looking over maps and combat reports.

"How goes it Bowser?" John asked.

"Well sir Halifer and I are just looking over the sightings of our target to see if we can find a pattern in her movements, but so far it just seems that she's still just figuring out where the various warps go," Bowser said, tracing his fingers over a line drawn on one of the maps.

"You ready to move out if someone finds her?" King asked.

"Whole platoon could be combat ready in minus 40, with 1st squad being able in minus 2," Bowser replied, "How's training with the kid going?"

"She's picked up hand to hand combat a lot better than I expected and if she'll ever get around to it soon I'll be doing marksmanship," John replied. Bowser smiled and shook his head.

"It boggles my mind that you never became a range instructor at Parris, or Quantico, or San Diego," Bowser said with a smile.

"You and me both, old buddy boy here just had to get some," King Joked

"Yeah, I guess I did have a knack for teaching, but if I was stuck back here in the states then this whole company would be in shambles," John said jokingly.

"Oh yes where would be be without our fearless leader?" Bowser replied sarcastically, "It's nice to see you back in it sir,"

"It's nice to be back in it Lt., let me or CCO now if you find anything," John said beginning to walk away. He made his way to the equipment repair station. It was three fold out tables laid out in a line, covered with radios, laser designators, rifles, side arms, and other pieces of equipment in various stages of disassembley. Around the tables were the all 6 of the company's Small Arms Technicians and 3 of it's Equipment Technicians. John walked over to the side that had the most of the P-77 radios. The AN/PRC-77, P-77, or Prick-77 had been in service with U.S. armed forces since 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War were it provided it's use and reliability in the humid jungles of southeast asia, having replaced the older AN/PRC-25 radios in use at the time. John was puzzled as to why they were malfunctioning and needed them to be usable ASAP. The longer a team was out of the field the more time Peridot held her small advantage. One of the Equipment Technicians looked up as John walked over.

"Afternoon sir," the technician said, going back to his work. He'd taken one of the radio's out of it's sheet metal protective shell. He was poking in the back with a screw driver.

"So what caused the malfunction?" John asked, leaning on the table.

"Well," the technician said, setting down the screw driver and wiping his hands with a cloth, "Nothing, at least not with all of them. This one here had corroded battery connectors and the others had some bits and pieces loose that could've broken, but in terms of what caused them all to fail my be guess would be outside interference."

"But you said that you weren't operating near any gem locations and if Peridot had the ability to mess with our comms why didn't she do so sooner?" John said. King shrugged and turned to the other radios still in one piece.

"So are these in working order?" King said, fiddling with the dials on one of them.

"Yup, though if you want it wouldn't hurt to pop em open just to be sure that there's nothing else inside that could cause additional trouble," the Technician said, going back to work on the already disassembled radio.

"Why not, you still need to debrief me and we need to plan your operation. Plus we should ask the gems if they now of anything on Earth Peridot could have used to disable our communications," King said. John nodded, and the two made their way to John's corner of the command tent. John relit his cigar from earlier and began to run down everything that had happened on the most recent mission.

* * *

Steven watched with vigor as Connie and Pearl went back and forth, blades skittering of each other. The two opponents stood locked, neither holding clear advantage over the other. Connie would step forward, realising a quick series of strikes, before being beaten back by Pearl. The chatter of swords and the whisper of quick footwork filled the air, until finally Connie went in for the kill. She lunged forward, placing her non dominant foot close behind her other to not overextend herself and stabbed the sword forward, and just under Pearls guard. But Pearl twisted her own blade and soon Connie's clattered to the arena floor. Pearl brought her sword point to Connie's chest and gave it a light tap.

"Dead," Pearl said, lowering her sword. Connie let out a sigh of exhaustion and picked up her own blade before walking over to Steven to get her water bottle. Steven handed to bottle to her and she gladly drank, sweat dripping from everyone of her pores

"Thanks Steven," Connie said, handing the bottle back to her friend. She sat for a moment, letting herself relax before the next training exercise. Pearl had been making them ever more frequent and challenging and Connie found herself growing ever tired after each one, but ever stronger after each day. She picked up her sword and turned to face her teacher. Pearl stood near the middle of the arena with her sword low to her side.

"Connie sit, I want to show you both something," Pearl said, and Connie obeyed. She was fine with a moment's pause and more time to rest, "I am going to show you how I acted as Roses knight during the war so that you Connie may see one in action. So you can see how one most function during the chaos of combat, and what one must be prepared to do."

Pearls gem began to glow and suddenly an image sprouted from it, covering the dusk sky. It showed Pearl, but dressed differently and almost looking younger, surrounded by fire and discarded weaponry. She was running, face stricken with an expression of worry and desperation, sword in hand. She came to an abrupt halt and before her stood Rose, shield in one hand and sword in the other, and opposite from her a homeworld warrior wielding a massive battle axe. There was a momentary flash of fear across Pearls face, only replaced by a hardened determination, as the homeworlder lifted it's weapon to strike down the pink quartz. Pearl rushed forward between the two and held her rapier aloft, blocking the strike. Then the video flashed away and Steven and Connie watched in fascinated silence as Pearl defeated a holo-Pearl she'd summoned with the same hard fought determination. The ivory gem turned to them, locking eyes with Connie.

"If I could do it for her, then you can do it for him,"

Connie understood now, she must put her liege, put _Steven_ , before herself. She must be ready to face anything that would harm him, just as Pearl had done for Rose. She must be ready to fight for him..and to die. If she were to be his knight the she would have to put himself before her. She looked at Steven, his eyes had watered up a little and his mouth still hung open. Connie giggled at his expression, remembering what she'd said. " _I want to be apart of your universe,"_ the words still rung true, and if this is what being apart of his universe meant then she was ready.

"Do you understand now Connie?" Pearl asked, locking eyes again with the girl.

"Yes ma'am!" Connie said ecstatically, standing ready.

"Then prove it," Pearl said, and around the arena a dozen holo Pearls appeared, "I will be Steven and you must not let any of the holo-Pearls get close enough that I will have to fight them off myself. You must defeat all of them."

Connie straightened herself and made her way to the center of the arena where Pearl now stood. The gem had her rapier once again low to her side. Connie stopped before her and gave bow, and the turned and gave one to Steven. As she rose she noticed something. No one had taken back the dummy rifles and their bayonets.

"Pearl,"

"Yes Connie?"

"Could I use the bayonet with my sword?"

Pearl stopped for a moment, considering and then shrugged, "I don't see why not, John has been training you to use it after all,"

Connie walked over to the rifles. Next to them sat the sheaths for both her and Pearl sword. She picked up her own and tied it about her waist, then hefting the dummy M4. She reached for one of the OKC-3S bayonets, sheathed in its sand colored scabbard, and then stopped. For a moment she could almost hear her mother scolding her for playing with knives. She smiled at the thought. It was silly that she'd spent most of the past two weeks wielding a sword and now she was afraid of what her mother would say about a knife. She grabbed the bayonet and pulled it from its scabbard. The point gleamed in the golden light of the sunset. She fixed it to the end of her rifle and walked pack over to Pearl. She stood in braced position with the carbine held low to her side. Pearl raised her arms and then dropped them and the holo-Pearls eyes turned a bright red and they lunged forward. Connie rushed to meet the closest three. The first swung its sword as though trying to behead her. She ducked low and brought the bayonet up into its chest. She pushed it off and whipped the butt of the rifle around and slammed it into another holo-Pearls jaw with a satisfying crack. It twisted downwards and dissipated.

Connie looked up to see the third holo-Pearl having already closed with her and had to bring her rifle up to catch its blade as it came down. The rapier hit the barrel shroud with a thunk and stuck in place. Connie twisted the carbine, bringing her bayonet across it chest. She ripped the rapier from the rifle and turned to meet the other holo-Pears. Two were just about to strike at Pearl before Connie cut them down with swift stabs for the bayonet. Connie turned to face the others.

They had begun to group together and now the remaining seven stood to face her as one. Connie braced herself and charged, screaming, into the enemy. She dove low and cut the ankles of the one of them, bringing the bayonet up and slitting the throat of another. Three rushed forward to try and pin her well the others began to make their way towards Pearl. A sword sailed at her, passing above her eye by a hair. Connie stabbed to bayonet into the foot of the holo-Pearl blocking her path and ran towards the other two making their way to Pearl. One of them turned and brought it's sword around to stab her, forcing Connie to block. The sword slid through the carrying handle, blade digging into either side of the polymer. The point stopped a few inches from Connie's chest, now stuck firmly into the rifle. With a twist and the sword and carbine fell to the ground and the hologram found itself cut in two. Saber now in hand Connie now faced the remaining four, two of them worse for wear. But Connie was no better, a cut open above her left eye, breathing heavily, and down a weapon.

Still she stood ready, placing the saber in front of her. The able bodied holo-Pearls began to circle her slowly like predators around their prey, well the other injured ones tried to make their way to Pearl. One thrust forward, only to have the strike parried to the side and be run through. The second made its way behind her and slashed for Connie's back, missing by a hair. She whipped around and swept its legs, knocking the holo Pearl off balance. With a quick slice she dispatched her downed foe, and with two more she stood victorious. Her lungs burned, breath ragged and raw. The cut on her forehead had began to drip into her eye, the salt burning. She wiped the blood away, her heart beat slowing to a normal pace. She heard Steven run up behind her, and turn to see Pearl placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Connie are you okay?" Steven said seeing the cut above her eyes. She touched her hand to it and pulled her fingers away, rubbing the blood between her thumb and index finger. The cut began to hurt as the adrenaline began to subside. Steven licked his thumb and began to rub the blood away, the wound closing as the healing spit went to work.

"You did excellent Connie, I think soon I'll be testing you myself. Your combat skills have improved greatly, and I'll have to be sure to tell John how well you performed with the bayonet," Pearl said, with a smile brimming with pride. Connie gave her a bow and returned the saber. The trio made their way to the wrap pad and back to the beach house.

* * *

"Come on you,"Peridot mumbled to herself as she rugged through one of the control panels for the Earth's communication hub. She had made progress with the ancient interstellar communication array, but it still was only transmitting on a planet wide scale if that,"Stupid clodding humans, with their stupid clodding weapons and their stupid clodding poor timing."

Days before she'd been so close to getting that abandoned ship working, if only enough to get her off world, only to have her hopes dashed as a group of humans set upon her. She'd tried to fight them off, but when the sound of their primitive fight machines filled the air she'd had to flee. Then it was back to warping from here to there in search of anything that could get her off this time bomb. Then she found it.

Having warped into some strange waste land Peridot had picked up a signal of gem origin. It was faint, and incredibly old, dating to the first days of the colony, but it was there. Since she hadn't been able to warp to it's location getting there meant she would have to walk, but that at the very least she had a place that the Crystal Gems couldn't reach immediately, thus giving her time to plan her next move. But what she found was so much better than she could have imaged. The massive hub was in incredibly poor condition, having been destroyed most likely by the Crystal Gems or their human counterparts, but what remained would be enough to get a distress call out.

That was if the technician could get it working. What pieces of the structure remained intact were either buried halfway into the soft waste land or laying several units away from what was left of the main structure. Even if she managed to get it able to send a message there was no usable control surface that would let her make a message to send. But it was her only shot to get off the planet, so she would have to make do without. Besides it wouldn't be impossible to make a rudimentary one with what she had on hand.

"Ah finally!" Peridot exclaimed, having found the power control she was looking for. With a few re wirings the pylon would now be able to function on only 20% of it's original power. Stepping back from her handy work Peridot activated the lift repulsors on both of her limb enhancers and hoisted the pylon into position. With a thud and a cloud of dust the pylon fell into place. A stream of light shot up into the night sky, punching through the light cloud layer above it and out into the cosmos.

Peridot dust off her hand and admired her work. She opened up her audio log and began to record another entry, "Log date 7 2 2, I have managed to get the Earth's communication hub running with minimal resources and will soon attempt to send a distress call to the nearest homeworld colony. I must say that I am impressed with my own merit. After all my function is as a kindergartener and as I had previously stated the hub was in extremely poor condition. But I have managed to get the hub working enough to send at least a rudimentary signal. However without having made my call I believe it would be in my best interest to deactivate the hub until I have one prepared and a station from which to send it. The construction of the control station will take considerably more time and possibly interactions with the humans in order to get ahold of the necessary components. This is Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG signing off," With that she closed the log and then began to sift through any that she had on how to possibly construct a control station.

* * *

 **So boy have I got a story. Anyone remember how I said that it was fall break and I would have all week to write? Well my computer requires me to login to the school's monitoring system every 24 hours to use the internet. Pretty simple right, just login and you got internet. (which this story requires because it's on google docs and unless I'm on my school email I can't edit offline) Well the login page has a glitch where needs the internet to reach it but because you haven't logged in you can't get internet and therefor can't reach the login page for your internet. You now see the problem yes? So finally sometime around Sunday I manage to get it to let me reach the login page and finally I can acess the story and I begin to read over what I wrote before it went down and it was...lackluster to say the least. Whole sections of dialogue just didn't make sense and I just had to dump and rewrite the chapter. So that Is why it took a whole month to get out a chapter I said would take a week. Sorry, but on the upside I have made sure that I can acess the story on another device if this should happen again. (If anyone is wondering why I didn't just access the doc on a different device that is because when I tried I got the error message that the file could not be opened.)**

 **Now onto chapter analysis, I can honestly say that this was a chapter of compromise. I really wanted to finish the Connie training arch in this one or at least put it on hold so we could get another mission, but there was no way to do that without really shoehorning it in. The part with Connie becoming indoctrinated also was rush primarily because I did another time skip so there isn't the two weeks of training where we would have seen her slowly get more and more like Pearl was to Rose. Now I know someone is at least thinking "Why did John train Connie in bayonets and hand to hand without her parents permission?" John realises that Connie is going to train with Pearl no matter what and he has insight he can give so why not give it. With the John texting part I really couldn't think of a way that John, as acting company commander, would be able to stay in the loop with happenings without some just made up form of communication. Honestly this is really becoming a problem because the more I apply a military type person and structure to this universe the more I realise that whole character arc she just wouldn't happen because the events that caused them wouldn't happen with a professional military force present. But I signed myself on for this and it is my story so I can change things for the sake of it plot I guess, I just figured that it would be a lot more following the story already set out by the show at this point. Eh what are you gonna do. Well with that we have chapter 12 and hopefully nothing happens to keep me from writing the next one in an orderly fashion.**

(Quick question I've been using the traffic graph and noticed that their are views and visitors and was wondering the difference. I also noticed that some of these people only view or visited certain chapters and skipped others. I am curious why?

 **PEACE!**


	13. Chapter 13 Back At It Again

**Chapter Thirteen**

 **Back at it Again**

" _Click"_

John pressed the stop button on the tape recorder. He found it funny how the most powerful military in the world still used technology from the early 20th century for things as basic as an after action report. It was dark now, Steven and Connie had come to say bye before she left. John chuckled a little, remember how star struck she looked when she saw all the radios, satellite and UAV live feeds, and the massive amounts of technobabble between the technicians at work. He reached over and put out the butt of his cigar and took a sip of his coffee.

"So that's it?"

"Yes sir that's it. Two whole weeks in the field with nothing to show for it but some more hands on information gained and progress made integrating the gems into our unit," King said, with a tone of disdain. John felt his pain, neither of them liked the idea of a hostile entity with unknown intentions running around the face of the Earth and running patrols with no result was almost the definition of demoralizing.

"Sir can I speak frankly with you," King asked, causing John to turn.

"King, Russell, I thought I made it clear long ago that if you needed to say something that you should say it," John said, taking another drink of his coffee.

"John if we don't find Peridot soon she will get off world and we both know that she didn't come here for a vacation. We need more manpower, with the forces we have now we can't even come close to covering our AOs,"

"I'm well aware of the consequence of our enemy escaping Gunnery Sergeant, but in my current position there isn't really much I can do. There is still a war on in Afghanistan that's getting worse by the day and until the Beach City accords are ratified no other IPA member state can operate on U.S. soil and vice versa," John replied.

"You could get in the field more," King said, leaning against the table.

"And who would keep up Connie's bayonet training? That girl shows real promise, and I honestly think she could be a good way to bridge the gap between us and the civilians. We're going to be operating here for a good while."

"Training her is not your job sir, leading this company is,"

John let out sigh, and reached into his blouse, pulling out a flask. He unscrewed the cap before pouring a fair amount of the titanium container's contents into his coffee. He offered some to King who slid his cup over, getting less than the officer as he wasn't as heavy a drinker. John took a sip of the caffeinated whisky, grimacing at the bite of the alcohol and bitter taste of the black coffee, "You're right Russel, it's not my job. I guess I just hoped that it'd be a few weeks, hell I'ved taken a day, of just being a civilian or even just doing something not combat. You know that I live and breath the Marine Corps, but everybody needs time to just...not, especially after the valley."

"I get that sir, we lost a lot and we're the ones who fight bloodless battles that keep us up at night and make bloody decisions that decide whether or not we all go home. I know that it's hard and we all wanted a break, but we didn't get one," King said taking a drink, "This may not be the boonies as we know it, but it is an active operation and the men need to see you out there. Some of them are beginning to think you're favoring the gems over them."

"I'm not favoring the gems, I'm just trying to see them as equals. Let's be real here we're going to be doing these sorts of operations for a while and working with our newfound allies is going to become a norm. We need to be able to act as an effective and cohesive unit, or these operations will be doomed from the start," John said. He turned and began to study the map of where operations had taken place over the past month, "But you are right, I have been spending more time around them then the company. How bout we make a deal, I'll add an extra week onto my deployment if you keep Connie up on her hand to hand and bayonet training."

"What part of the program is she in?" King asked.

"I've gotten her to the starting bits of the green belt but haven't gone too far in depth on the hand to hand combat, manly because I haven't had anyone to demonstrate the grapples, choke holds, and ground fighting. I've also been going a little easy on her during sparring, and haven't been nearly a disciplined about certain things like you would have back when you were still teaching at Quantico," John said, trying his best to quickly summarize what he'd gone over with the girl. It was difficult trying to mesh the classical styles of sword combat with the more modernized hand to hand fighting techniques used by the Marine Corps. He hadn't even gone into the mental side of things, not wanting to start ingraining a hardcore military mindset and indoctrination without a say so from her parents.

"Alright John, deal. Under one condition," King said.

"Shoot,"

"She get's her training here on the ground. The boy already filled me in on the floating arena,"

"Ah come on King where's your sense of adventure?" John jokingly asked.

"Here. On the ground," King said, pointing to his boots. The two men shared a laugh and then got down to the business of planning the fine details Johns patrol. They had already formed a basic idea of how each one of these types of operations was to be carried out, but there were still things to figure like who to bring and what forces were in the AO that he would be in that could supplement his own. John would recommend ten things like who to bring and how to be deployed and King would shoot down nine of them. Then King would say how ten things should be done and John would only go for one. By the end of the night the two had planned out the three week long operation dubbed Desert Ghost. John, Pearl, Garnet, Steven, 12 other Marines, and 2 GGRCA operatives would warp to the last location that King had been and set up a base camp for a week to try a determine the cause of the interference. If no logical cause could be found then John would continue as King had, moving from warp pad to warp pad to try and find some sign of the green gem or something that could draw her to them. John had recommended they bring Garnet on the mission as her future vision capabilities would be useful in locating Peridot. With preoperation brief would be tomorrow at 0800 hours, with Desert Ghost commencing at 1100 hours.

* * *

" _-and that's it for tonight's game ladies and gentlemen. We'll see you next week for the Steelers v.s. the Colts"_

"Man what a crap game,"

"You're telling me Frank, here's you five,"

"Thank you," Frank said with a smirk and a cigarette hanging out of his mouth, "Hey you think you could grab the trash before it gets too late?"

"Sure thing,"

"Thanks Paul," Frank said, turning back to the TV. Paul walked to the trash cans inside the Speedway and grabbed the bags. Slinging them over his shoulder he walked out into the crisp, cold, desert night. Rubbing his hands to warm them he made his way to the dumpster.

"Up you go," Paul said, hoisting the trash into the dumpster and turning back to the gas station.

"You, don't move,"

Paul turned to see a 5 foot something green person standing in front of him with one of it's arms extended towards him. It's voice was feminine and it was sporting a haircut that was interesting to say the least. It's skin was a lime green color and it had a green triangular gem mounted in it's forehead.

"You know Vegas is 20 miles that way right?" Paul mockingly asked pointing down the road, "And what was that?"

"I said don't move. I need to ask you a few things and I don't want you alerting your fellow humans to my presence," she said, leveling her arm at Paul's chest.

"Rrright, do you like directions or something?"

"No, I need to know if you have some sort of computing unit in that building,"

"Look I don't know what you're going on about other humans and computing units, but I have a whole night of nothing to get back to and my boss isn't going to be happy if I stay out here much longer sooooo I'm a go, k bye," Paul said, beginning to walk away. Just as he began to walk to the Speedway he heard the sound of something revving up behind him. Then a beam of green energy shot up and slammed into the gas prices sign with a small explosion and a shower of sparks. Paul threw himself to the ground, covering his head.

"Since you refused to cooperate I'll have to speak directly with you superior. Now get up and take me to your leader," the green person said.

"Holy fucking shit you're an alien, like a real fucking alien. You're one of the ones they've been talking about on the news," Paul said hysterically as he pushed himself to his feet. Holding his hands in the air he walk forward towards the gas station with the green alien escorting him.

"Frank don't do shit man, I'm telling you this isn't like 06 with the clowns," Paul said, slowly creeping into the gas station. He looked over to the cashier's station and saw that Frank was missing.

"Where is the other human?" the alien asked, poking Paul in the back with it's blaster.

"I don't know man, look what do you want okay. I can get you some food or an Icee, or I could refuel your spaceship-

"Paul shut the hell up, you aren't getting that thief jack shit," Frank shouted, coming from the back. He racked the pump on his Remington 870 and turned it to the green person, "Now you listen here, we're gonna sit and wait for the cops to show up and you aren't going to do a fucking thing. Do you comprehend?"

"I simply need a computing unit, something that runs using electricity and has a basic control station," she said, turning her arm to Frank.

"Frank man just give her what she wants alright, she freaking blew up the gas sign," Paul said, trying to calm the older man.

"Paul shut up, this is my store and the money in that register is mine and I'll be damned if this wanna be thug is getting it," Frank said leveling his shotgun on the alien.

"I don't have time for this," she said, and Frank was suddenly enclosed in a green ball of energy, with one end of it extending from the alien's hand. She swung her arm and Frank followed with it, slamming into the snacks section. She then turned to look at Paul, who was now cowering under a table near the front, "Look all I need is a simple control surface and an image capturer. Just something with buttons and a lense, that works either mechanically or holographically. Do you have something like that?"

"Uh...y-yeah, t-there's a computer...in the b-back, it's got a skype camera," Paul said, pointing to the door that Frank had come out of. She turned and walked into the room, the door swinging closed behind her. Paul ran over to his now unconscious friend. He was covered in chips and cheap candies. One of the sheet metal shelves had opened up a deep gash in the left side of his his head.

"Oh crap man, oh crap, oh crap!" Paul exclaimed, trying to think what to do next.

* * *

Peridot entered the small room. It's walls were made of some odd stone bricks, and in the far corner sat a monitor with an archaic looking typing block in front of it and a small, round, object with a lense on one end. The technician ran over to the monitor and tried to remove the typing block and image capturer. Much to her dismay she found that they were linked to a large box next to the monitor by some wires.

"Oh come on," She growled, trying desperately to find where the cables were attached. Finally she found it and ripped the cords free, dashing out of the room.

 _Chic-Chic_

"Uggggh, what now," Peridot said turning to see the other human standing with it's weapon facing her.

"Now look, I-I was all fine with y-you just coming in here and getting what you want, but n-now you hurt my friend and you damaged the store. I-I can't j-just let you leave," He stammered out, shaking. Peridot rolled her eyes and set the typing block down at her side.

"Look as much as I would like to stay and chat I have somewhere to be so please just let me leave and no one else gets hurt, okay," Peridot said, trying her best to calm the human. She knew all too well what their weapons were capable of and that had been at a distance.

"Naw man, y-you could've just knocked him out or something but you had to go s-slamming people into shelves and shit. So we're just gonna sit here and-OH GOD PLEASE NO!" the human screamed as Peridot lifted him with her repulsor unit.

"Drop the weapon, and no one else gets hurt," Peridot said, her voice low. The human immediately let go of the weapon and Peridot deactivated the repulsor. Grabbing the weapon from the ground before the human could she ran out of the building. Off in the distance were strange high pitch sounds and a group of flashing blue and red lights were making their way towards her. Tucking the human weapon and the typing block under her arm and slinging the image capturer's wire over her shoulders she activated her lift generator and shot off into the night in the direction of the warp pad. It was messy and she'd given her enemies a meanings of finding her, but it would be infinitely easier to simply modify this primitive technology to fit the communication hub than having to make a control surface and image capturer from scratch and thus make her time on this ticking doomsday device of a planet that much shorter.

As she flew over the vast wasteland she pondered what she would do with the human weapon. She had grabbed it mainly to prevent the humans from attacking her as she left. Part of her wished to simply drop it, after all it was nothing more than dead weight. But then there was the scientific part of her, she'd wished to further examine the first human's weapons back when she was on the ship, but had never gotten the chance. After a moment of thought she decided to keep it, not like she would have much else to do well she waited to be picked up, and it could be beneficial to learn the inner workings of human weaponry. At least so long as it travel safely through the warp stream. Peridot shuddered with annoyance at the memory of the humans near the hub. Not only did they lack the necessary components but none of them spoke basic, making the whole unnecessary process all that more difficult.

Soon the warp pad she'd used came into view and with a flash of light she was back in the strange, waving organic matter plains that stretched for miles until meeting the odd wasteland of this side of the planet. Lifting herself up, Peridot continued to fly in the direction for the communication hub. She'd become more prone to flying to avoid any humans on the ground, though because of the energy use she would need to recharge once she reached the hub.

After hours of flying the hub came into view. The technician landed on the upper part of the hub and went to work examining the pieces of human technology she'd stolen. The typing block was covered in strange symbols that she could only assume was their form of writing. As she began to pull it apart she was both surprised and interested at the level of machining and detail that went into such a device. It was primitive when compared to modern gem technology, but it was clear that it was far from a simple machine. But it's complexity would make it a bit of a chore to integrate into what was left of the communication hub. Plugging in her limb enhancers in to one of the damaged and unused power cells she went to work.

Threes hours of hard work later it was finally done. Twice Peridot had tried to turn on the makeshift communication pad and been electrocuted. But finally she'd managed to get it working. Setting the image capturer up she stood in front of it and began to record her message, "This is Peridot transmitting on all frequencies on abandoned crystal colony Earth. To Yellow Diamond, my mission has been compromised, my escort and informant are gone, I am now stranded, and am currently being hunted by hostile entities of this planet. Please send help!"

With the message now ready she went to the typing block and began to make the necessary adjustments so that she could begin to broadcast her message. Power would need to be reserved so that the message would play enough times that if it were received there would be no chance of anyone missing it. The thought troubled her, just the idea that her whole rescue off of this planet depended on someone's ability to receive the message and listen to it halfway across the stars was beyond frightening. But it wasn't like she had much of a choice other wise. With a few more strokes of the keys she was done and the hub began to draw power from the remaining energy pylons. It would take a few hours for the hub to have enough energy to continuously broadcast her message.

Peridot stepped back and sat down. She pulled the human weapon over to her lap and began to inspect it. She tried to hold it as the human had, but her limb enhancer's fingers proved to bulking and imprecise when handling the weapon. Pulling them off she again tried to hold and operate it as the human had. She placed the sloped wide end against her shoulder and her other hand on what she could only guess was some sort of recoil director. She pulled back on the front piece as the human had and was surprised to see a small red cylinder fly out of the left side of the weapon. One end of it was capped with a gold colored metal and had a small indentation with a small silver disk in the center. The other end looked as though it was meant to come apart and the sides of it were covered with the same sort of markings that the typing block had.

Peridot reached over to her limb enhancer and turned on the record function, "This is Peridot, I have captured a human weapon of unknown origin or function and am attempting to deceive it's inner workings. I have caused it to expel what I can only assume is it's ammunition. Strangely enough it does not appear to be the same sort of ammunition used by the forces that were defending the beach, unless of course this piece contains the same metal cones that were fired at me and my escort upon landing. I am now going to attempt to disassemble the ammunition as to learn more about the weapons inner workings," Peridot said, as she slipped on her limb enhancers and activated the matter rending function on the right index finger. She flipped the piece of ammunition so that the metal side was facing upwards. After all it wouldn't be unheard of for a weapon to be trapped and if the other end was in fact were projectiles exited the ammunition then it would be the most likely spot to place one.

Using the matter renderer Peridot cut along the metal surface until reaching the smaller silver disk in the center. Holding the red cylinder with her left limb enhancer she cut through the silver disk.

 _BANG_

"Ah," Peridot said jumping back from what used to be the red cylinder. She looked at her left limb enhancer. The fingers were blackened and a little dented, but thankfully still functional.

"It appears that I was mistaken in my assumption that any trap that the ammunition had would be on the releasing end was incorrect. Now without a piece of ammunition I will examine the weapon itself," Peridot said, picking up the device, "It appears to be constructed of metal. Due to its coloration, weight, and lack of rust I assume it to be an iron alloy of some sort. The weapon is roughly twice as long as the limb enhancers I was issued."

Peridot turned the weapon to the side where the ammunition had ejected from. There was a small opening and inside she could see the metal part to another piece of ammo,"It also appears that the weapon holds more than one piece of ammunition. I will attempt to operate it as the human using it before me did."

Peridot shouldered the weapon and pushed the recoil director forward. However when she attempted to pull it back she found she was unable to do so. After several minutes of pulling backwards on the recoil director Peridot came to the conclusion that either the weapon had malfunctioned or was now ready to fire and needed to do so in order to release it's ammo, although the latter didn't make sense as she hadn't heard the human fire the weapon before operating it.

" _Maybe he operated it incorrectly?"_ Peridot thought, having placed the weapon on it's back,"The captured human weapon has appeared to have malfunctioned and I am now attempting to find a means to remove another piece of ammunition. The recoil director refuses to move backwards and I have now turned it on it's back to inspect the bottom. The is a small opening, roughly as wide and long as the fingers for my issued equipment. I assume this to be the insertion point for the ammunition as I can see the metal backing to a piece the ammo. There appear to be several control surfaces on weapon."

Peridot pressed one of the control surfaces, a small lever protruding from the finger rest. Holding it down she pulled back on the recoil director and to her pleasure it moved back, ejecting a piece of ammunition from the side. Peridot would spend the next several hours until the sun went down fiddling with the weapon. She had even managed to pull it apart and piece it back together.

Finally she had figured how the weapon operated, using a small metal pin it detonated a small charge on the back of the ammunition that would ignite the remaining propellant and send the ammunition down it's shot director. The pin was held back by a small metal seer the required a release lever to be pulled. The release lever was inside a small loop by were the recoil directors release was. After each shot the recoil director would need to be pulled back and then pushed forward to load another piece of ammunition. She had dissected two of the six pieces of ammo successfully and found that one of them contained several hundred small lead pellets, well the other contained eight larger iron alloy pellets. With limb enhancers removed Peridot pulled back the recoil director and inserted one of the larger size pellet pieces of ammunition. Placing the sloped end against her right shoulder, she held it and pushed the recoil director forward. She reached over and turned the record function on again," This is Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, after having spent several hours trying to decipher the inner workings of the human weapon I have now dubbed "The multiple rapidly accelerating projectile launcher" I will now attempt to fire it. My target is a sandstone rock that I picked up from the wasteland."

Peridot slid her finger into the housing for the pin drop mechanism and Pulled back slowly on the lever. With a concussive blast the weapon shot from it's front end and the sandstone rock, roughly one foot by one foot, disintegrated into several small chunks and a fine sand colored powder. Peridot flew back from the force of the recoil and the weapon fell from her grasp. Sliding across the floor it tumbled off the edge and down onto the wasteland below.

"Oh come on," Peridot said with a tone of annoyance. She looked over the edge to see the weapon had hit a rock and bent severely. She reattached her limb enhancers and flew down to see if the weapon would be salvageable. Upon her inspection she determined that if she had some sort of tools she could fix it, but with what was at her disposal it would be impossible. She flew back up to the platform and sat down, rubbing her shoulder. Her assumption that the loading handle was a recoil director had been partially right. Her shoulder hurt, but she came to the conclusion that had she not held onto it her face might be in pain as well. With a sigh Peridot turned over to her makeshift control station. On the plus side that was showing that it was fully functional and ready to deliver the message. With a few more taps of the keys the hub came to life and fired her message off into the clouds.

* * *

John turned down the main street leading into the city. He was on the last bit of his morning jog. He was pleased that several of his other Marines had elected to join him. He'd kept a fairly slow pace, more trying to keep himself fit and warm up rather than meet a specific time. Without the mud pits of Quantico he would need to find a new workout routine for his troops, least they get soft on him.

A few hundred meters ahead the hotels he'd been put up in came into view. Pulling on his reserve strength he broke into a sprint and push the last stretch. Running up the stairs to his room he dashed in and collapsed onto his bed heaving with sweat. Pushing himself up he showered and dressed, going with his sand MCCUUs over the woodland camouflage. With boots laced and pistol at his hip John stepped out into the early morning air.

He began to walk towards the Big Donut to get morning coffee and breakfast. With a ding the door open and John stepped into the smell of fresh donuts and coffee, "Morning Sadie, Lars,"

"Hey John, what'll it be?" Sadie asked.

"Two double chocolate, and a Boston cruller, with coffee and a yogurt cup," John said, pulling out his wallet. Sadie pulled up his total, well Lars got together his breakfast. John walked over and poured himself a cup of coffee.

"$11.32 is your total," Sadie said. John placed a ten and a five in her hand and turned to walk out the door.

"John wait don't you want you change?"

"Put it in the tip jar," John called over his shoulder, making his way to Stevens house. He checked the time on his phone, it read 07:37. He walked up onto the porch and gave the door a knock, leaning back on the railing with his coffee well he waited.

"Be down in a minute,"a very tired sounding Steven said.

"Come on Steven, I know I told you that you'd be in the field on our next expedition, and you need to be there for the pre mission briefing," John said, taking a bite of his Boston culler.

"I know I know, it's just so cozy," Steven said. John sat down at the table outside and waited for the boy to get dressed. Ten minutes later a very tired looking Steven came out with Garnet and Pearl in tow. John got up from his breakfast and the group made their way to the command tent. Inside at the canvas shelter was Bowser, the men from his platoon John had selected, two GGRCA representatives and Lieutenant Free ,the commanding officer for the maintenance section of John company, all standing around a table with the locations where they would be operating marked.

"Alright are we all here?" John said looking around the table, "Good, now here's the game plan for the next three weeks. For week one we're going to deploy at Knights last location, and attempt to find the source of the interference. If we are unable to find it then we will move to the next closest warp pad using vehicles obtained from the nearby Tonopah Air Force Base in southern Nevada. We will be traveling by main roads and make it to the next warp pad with in the day. Once we reach it we will move the next now warp location in upper Nevada where will we be searching a 50 mile wide AO. If no sign of the target is found there then we will move to the next location and so and so forth. Support available to us will be limited outside of our first AO as we will be operating away from any near by military installation from most of Operation Desert Ghost. But considering that we should have the drop on our prey should we come in contact we shouldn't need it. When we land at an area we will split into four four man teams, with one staying back at the warp pad in case she tries to sneak by the others who will fan out a search the nearby area. The search parties will scan every inch of ground in a half mile radius over the course of two hours before backtracking and returning to the main group. Any questions?"

"Sir what will our communication be if the interference takes down our radios?" Cpl. Folly asked. She was one of Bowsers best grenadiers, so good that some claimed she could drop three out of her M203 before the first round hit.

"Glad you asked Folly, as phones and the encryption that I and King have on our are expensive and are fragile we will be using pagers to stay in touch with one another on the ground well I will have my phone on me and a direct link to King and our QRF should we need it," John said, pulling open a box that had been sitting on the table. Inside were two rows of 20 pagers, that looked like, and hadn't, seen service since the late 80ies where they were originally employed by units like Johns to get around Russian listening devices in the Soviet-Afghan war,"Anyother questions?"

John started around the table. The 12 man team of Marines he'd assembled was entirely veterans of Afghanistan. He had worked with all of them for more than one two year tour and all of them had seen combat. They were all hardened, effective, professional warriors, and John knew that they were completely aware of how little they had to go on, "I have chosen you gentlemen and ladies for two reasons, one all you are long standing Marines with in our unit who have operated under these sorts of conditions before with valor and two all of you haven't been in the field for an extended amount of time and therefore haven't had the time to work with our new allies. I'm going to be honest with you, we are without any sort of intelligence beyond that we now the places where she could be. To be frank Marines we are doing basically the same type of patrol operations we did in Afghanistan, only now we have no clear direction, or motive for the OpFor and our AO has grown exponentially in size. We are searching for a needle that might not even be there in a haystack that's over 3 million square miles. But keep in mind that well our chances of coming across the target are small, if we come across Peridot we need to be ready to capture, not kill. If she's unable to be recovered then that will only leave Jasper and Lapis as informants on homeworlds mission on Earth and neither of them will be nearly as easy to contain and interrogate. However we do have one thing on our side, Lieutenant Free,"

The small, fair haired Marine officer stood and straightened some papers he was holding. Free was the youngest officer under John's command, having graduated from OCS only 3 years ago. He'd been top of his class and had been in the thickest part of the fighting in Assyria before being transferred over to Johns unit in the Korengal valley. That combined with two Navy crosses (one for jumping on a grenade that had landed in his fighting hole. Luckily it turned out to be a dud.) allowed him to jump into MARSOC a year early.

"The advantage that Captain Cupal was referring to is that we have determined that the interference being experienced by Knight team was being caused by an outside source having to do with a gem related structure. Reaper team that was deployed at the Keystone kindergarten had similar issues, with the heaviest comms problems being felt around parts of the abandoned production facility that contain what we believe to be gem communication equipment. The majority of what was recovered by Reaper team was found to be non-functional, but what was would occasionally flare up. We have yet to have found the source of these flare ups, but there was considerably more interference noted by Knight team who was deployed near the secondary kindergarten. At this time we believe the reason to be coming from a structure similar to the one found at the Keystone kindergarten. It stands to reason that Peridot may be attempting to activate the same sort of experiments found in Keystone in Nevada," Free said, pointing to the canyon marked on the map of Nevada laid out on the table. Just as Free was about to say something a Corporal came in with a bundle of papers in hand. He took Free to the side to say something, and hand him the papers. Free returned to the group with an expression that somehow displayed confusion, worry, disbelief, and humor all at once. He straightened himself and said, "I have just been handed a police report for an individual described as being 5 foot 8, with lime green skin and hair, and a triangular light green gem mounted in it's forehead. Apparently Pilgrim tried to rob a gas station."

* * *

 **And thirteen. Sorry for the cliffhanger ending,but I felt that this one was kinda dragging on and wanted to save something for the next chapter. I kinda struggled with how I wanted to write Peridots inspection of the shotgun, because half of me really wanted her to be completely afraid of it as she was with most of the new things had to offer, but I decided that it would be better to write her trying to learn about it than not wanting to touch it. I'm also a little bummed by how Peridot heavy I went this chapter, but I haven't really written much more than a page or two that's just her and her thoughts. Plus I did manage to get a view of her from someone outside of John's unit. I have also been really trying to figure how I want John and the Gems to handle Peridot once they capture her, and eventually Lapis. But that's for me to stew over.**

 **As for the next chapter and the continuation of Connie's training I mentioned early in the chapter a belt system for the hand to hand training Connie had received. This is a real system know as the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program and recommend that you look into it. It covers everything from bayonet combat, to punches, hooks, and jabs, to unarmed combat v.s. an armed combatant and a heavy mental program to sharpen one's mind and reflexes. I'm a little sad (and kinda annoyed) that I wasn't able to finish Connie's training arch or at least put it in a place where I could leave it in the background for a while, but I guess that's what the next one for. I also wanted to real quick say thank you to all those who follow, favorite, or reviewed, it really means a lot, and reviews really do help me shape the story, if in only small ways. So really thank you, it means a lot.**


	14. Chapter 14 Section 18

**Chapter Fourteen**

 **Section 18**

John stood outside the Seven Eleven in the blistering heat. He leaned back against one of the Air Force Humvees that had met him and his unit at the warp, cigar hanging out of his mouth. There had been some initial difficulty with the officers on the scene as to why a heavily armed small military force had shown up, but after a few minutes of explaining, things had gotten sorted out. John had ordered Cpl. Folly and Sgt. Rook to see if they could talk to the store owner well John waited for the police to talk to the other employee. Apparently he'd been pretty shaken up about what happened, and started screaming about being dragged off to Area 51 once the Marines showed up.

John looked up from his thoughts to see one of the officers he'd first spoken to walking over. His tag read Sgt. Ruth, and he looked in every way like your stereotypical beat cop, from the cup of coffee and donut powder in his hand to the 80's caterpillar mustache.

"Are you the commanding officer of this little unit?"

"Yes I am, what'd you need?"

"We talked the kid down and he's ready to speak,"

"Alright where is he?"

"Over round the back of the store, come on I'll take yah," the officer said. John pushed himself off the Humvee and followed the man around the back of the gas station. As he walked he looked up at the gas sign. The thing was melted where Peridots shot had hit, leaving a rather distinct hole in the body of the price board. John shuddered at the thought of having to treat that kind of wound.

The two men walked around the building to the back where there were parked to police cruisers. Sitting on the bumper of one of them was a very distraught looking man in his early twenties,"His name's Paul and he's pretty shaken, so try and talk easy with him, okay."

John walked over to the man and squatted down in front of him. He took a pull off of his cigar, and then offered it to the boy, who took it gladly,"My name's Captain John C. Cupal. I hear your's is Paul correct?"

"Y-yeah, that's my name," Paul said, passing the cigar back, and taking a minute to cough.

"Look Paul I need to know everything you can tell me about the green gem that attacked you last night okay," John said, taking another pull.

"Captian am I in trouble?" Paul said, visibly afraid of what John's answer might be. John shook his head, he hated moments like this. All too common with civilians trapped in a war zone, when people got scared they began to assume that those who were around them that could hurt them, would hurt them if they didn't get what they wanted. Because of that it made any information gained less reliable and the person being interrogated feeling more afraid if the interrogator got rowdy.

"No son you're not in trouble, I just need to know what the green gem wanted and where she went. If you really help me I might even be able to pull some strings and get the damage to your shop fixed free of charge," John said. This was of course a lie, the military had other things to do than fix a Seven Eleven and John didn't know anyone in the area who could actually do the kind of work this place needed. But such incentives, even if false, could pull people out of their shell shocked states and make them more reliable sources of information.

"Well it all started when I went to take out the trash," Paul regaled John with the events that lead to Peridot assaulting his boss and running out of the store with computer and skype camera in hand.

"And she flew off in which direction again?" John asked.

"That way," Paul said pointing to the north.

John looked in the direction the man pointed, and frowned. It was not in the direction of the secondary kindergarten. In fact it was in the exact opposite direction and even more so it was where the warp pad John and the gems had arrived on was. This was not good, as now John was without any leads on what Peridots reason for being here was. John shook his head, and stood, "Thank you Paul, I'll try my best to have someone look at your store,"

He walked away, and made his way to the front of the gas station. The place was still wrecked, with bags of chips and candy sprawling all over the floor. He looked over at the cashier's station to see the manager of the place. The man was overweight, in his late thirties, early forties, and had a heavily receding hairline. He was sitting back at the cashier's station with the tv on above him, playing the local news. The two of John's Marines he'd sent to talk sat on either side of him, and were in the middle of their interrogation.

"So you claim that the assailant ran in with your employee in front of her and proceeded to ask for what again?"

"She said she wanted a computing unit or something like that. Then next thing you know I'm inside some weird green bubble and getting slammed upside my snack aisle. I mean just look at that," He said, pointing to the broken shelves and littered bags of chips,"When I come to I'm in the back of an ambulance with a bandage over my head and a iron taste in my mouth."

"Is there anything else you can tell us, did she say what she wanted them for, or where she was going?" Rook asked.

"For the last time no she didn't say anything, besides what are you doing a cops job for?" the man said, sounding annoyed, "Now let me get back to these high lights and- hey what the hell?"

John looked over at the tv he was watching. A strange static started to wash across it until finally materializing into an image,"This-Peri-This is Peridot transmitting on all frequencies on abandoned crystal colony Earth. To Yellow Diamond, my mission has been compromised, my escort and informant are gone, I am now stranded, and am currently being hunted by hostile entities of this planet. Please send help!"

"What the? Hey that-that's her! She's the one that wrecked my shop!" he said pointing wildly at the tv screen. John turned the tv towards him and then ran out of the shop. He ran over to one of the two radio operators he'd selected and turned on his radio, placing the headset to his ear.

"Whoa, sir what are-"

"Shut up for a second," John said, listening intently to the static in the headset.

"Okay, rude," SSgt. Wright said. John stood there listening to the static, and just as he was about to put the headset down, it came to life repeating the same message that had played on the tv. John dropped the headset and stood, hands shaking, gaze miles away.

"Sir are you okay?"

John paused from a moment, thinking. He then turned to SSgt. Wright, "Get HQ on the horn and tell them we have a section 18, are falling back to the warp pad to try had head to the source of the disturbance once we determine its cause."

John turned and proceeded to walk back towards the gas station, before Wright reached up and grabbed ahold of his arm, "Sir, my radio just keeps repeating the same message over and over again. I can't get it to stop, no matter what channel I switch to."

"Damn it," John said under his breath, "Okay, go get the rest of the team and have them assembled here and ready to move in 5. I'll get in contact with HQ."

"Where are you going sir?"

"To see what the gems know about this," John said, walking to the back of the four vehicle colum. John had asked the gems to stay in the car as to not alarm the people who'd just been attacked by one of their kind and further complicate things. He reached the rear most Humvee, opened the driver's door, and sat down in the seat. Steven looked up, half-awake, and gave the officer a weak wave.

"Oh John, anything new," Pearl said, with a cheery tone.

"Yeah, I need you to tell me how Peridot could have managed to do this," John said, reaching over and turning on the radio. He sat back as the message played over and waited for their response.

* * *

Connie walked up the steps to Stevens house, dressed for another round of training. She knocked on the door and waited on the steps leading upto the house. She looked out over the clam ocean. It was nice enough out today to go for a swim, maybe John had some sort of water combat techniques to show her or they would do a warm up swim. The warm ups before their training had gotten increasingly harder, with increasing results. Connie looked back at the door, puzzled. It was already one and Steven didn't sleep that late. Even if he was asleep he should have heard her knocking.

Connie pushed herself to her feet and knocked on the door again, "Hey Steven, it's Connie! Wake up!"

There was no answer. Getting the sudden feeling that something might have happened Connie pulled open the door and rushed inside. She scanned the walls, keeping her eyes at waist level ,as John had taught her, to catch any threats in the house whether they be standing or waiting to pounce. But instead she was greeted by no one. The house was completely empty and it looked like no living thing had been there since the day before.

"Steven? Pearl? Gar-" Connie was cut short by the door to the temple opening and a rather bored looking Amethyst stepping out.

"Oh hey dude, you looking for Steven and Pearl?" Amethyst said, taking a bite out of a tin can.

"Yeah, where is everybody?" Connie asked.

"Steven didn't tell you?"

"Tell me what?"

"He, John, Pearl, Garnet, and a couple of his Marine dudes are out looking for Peridot. Their gonna be gone for like three weeks," Amethyst said.

"Three weeks! Who's going to keep me up on my training?" Connie said. A day or two would be fine, but John and Pearl had both told her that if she slacked off then she could lose all of her muscle memory and they would be set back days, even weeks on her training.

"I think John said something about having someone take over for him well he was gone. If I were you I'd check the tent with all their command stuff," Amethyst told her, reaching into the fridge for something to eat. Connie thanked her and left, making her way to the tent. She walked down the rows upon rows of parked Humvees, and past various Marines stopping outside to chat, eat, or for a smoke break.

"Hey kid," one of the Marines playing a game of cards on the hood of a Humvee said.

"Yes," Connie said, trying not to sound nervous.

"You looking for somebody or something? Cause if not I'm gonna have to ask you to leave, this section of the beach is currently an active military installation and we can't just have people wandering around," He said, pointing to the sign no trespassing that had been set up around the small encampment.

"I was wondering if someone could tell me-um-where the person John left to instruct me is?" Connie said.

"Are you talking about the Captain? Look he's not gonna being in the city for awhile. If you need to speak too someone like him there's Gunnery Sergeant King who he left behind, and what's this about instruction?" The marine said, looking confused.

"John has been teaching me how to use a bayonet, and a rifle in hand to hand combat," Connie said.

"Wha-uhh, of course. I told you he was doing some shit like this. Jesus Cap can never not get close with the locals," the Marine said to the others he'd been playing cards with, rubbing his eyes, " Alright I'll take you to the Gunnery Sergeant, but if he doesn't know anything you're gonna have to leave, okay."

"Okay," Connie said, following the Marine to the command tent.

"Hey Tromley, what about our game?" one of the other Marines asked, hopping off of the roof.

"I'll be back in five, and I'm taking my cards with," He replied.

"Like anyone would want to look at your shitty hand," the other Marine reported.

Connie and the Marine walked towards the large canvas structure that sat at the encampments center. He lifted the entrance flap and motioned for her to enter. Connie looked around at everything that was pack in the tent. It certainly wasn't small on the outside, but the sheer amount of stuff that was in here blew her away. Standing at the edge of a table in the middle of the room, surrounded on either side by a half dozen or so other Marines, was a 6 foot something, muscular, dark, hard faced man, with the name tag GSgt. King. He looked up as Connie and the other Marine entered.

"Oh hello, you must be Connie. I'm Gunnery Sergeant King, acting first Sergeant of Bravo Company 1st Battalion, 5th Marines. John told me about your training, and had me be the one to continue your instruction well he's in the field. We've had a bit of a situation come up, so I won't be able to give you a hands on evaluation, but John did tell me he was a bit lax with you and I intended to have you read these anyway so I guess it all worked out," The man said, grabbing a stack of five or six books and handing them to Connie. She took a quick inspection of them. Most of them were an inch or more thick and had titles like; "One Mind, Any Weapon, Combat & Hand to Hand Fighting, and Combat Conditioning."

"Thanks for the books, but what are these for?" Connie asked, a little puzzled.

"For one to adept at fighting one must understand the principles behind it, both mentally and physically, and I should know. I taught black belt 2nd degree at the MARSOC hand to hand combat center for two years and at Parris island for four more before I shipped off to Afghanistan in 2010. Now have One Mind, Any Weapon, and the Marine Corps Close Combat Guide read before you even think about trying to train with me," King said pointing out the books Connie was to read. None of them looked too long, but Connie couldn't say that she wasn't a little disappointed. But on the plus side she did enjoy a good book and had been looking for something to read since she'd finished Familiar Unfamiliar.

"Thank you sir, I'll have them finished by tomorrow," she said, and turned to walk out.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I had been made an officer," King said, in a voice that would've caused a grizzly bear to whimper. Connie turned around to see that the friendly face she'd been greeted with was now gone and replaced by scowl that somehow continued to get angrier by the second,"Now since your parents haven't signed a release from and you're twelve I will not give you the Quantico treatment, but you'll want to have this memorized front to back before we train in any way shape or form."

He handed Connie a small booklet that read; The Do's and Don'ts of Basic, "I wrote it myself, so don't get sloppy with it. Now get to reading we have to deal with this."

Connie nodded and left the tent making a turn towards the cliff where she usually read. She sat down on the soft sand and opened up the small booklet. The forward was a short few paragraphs that went over the purpose of the text contained within the next fifty some pages. As she read through it one particularly stuck out to her; " _Look to the Cadets to the left and right of you. They are just like you, brought to these barracks for the same reasons as you. It is true that there will be small differences between each individual's reasons for joining, but all of you have come here for the same reason, whether you know it or not. A shared sense of brotherhood, of sameness and closeness with those around you. In these next 13 weeks you will foster and grow that sense of brotherhood with your fellow Cadets as you come ever closer to attaining that title of U.S. Marine. However know that if it does not grow then you will fail and if you do not here you will fail your platoon farther down the line. We are all Marines and we operate together or we die alone._

Connie smiled at the last line. It almost seemed to mirror what Pearl had told her about being a knight. She continued to flip through the booklet finding more and more connections between what it said and what she'd learned from the ivory gem. She finished it and opened One Mind, Any Weapon and soon found herself unable to not turn the next page. Each one gave her ever more useful information one how to hold herself, and how one's mind must be as sharp as their blade. She especially adored the parts where it would explain the history of the techniques used by the program the book was written about. How they had their roots in so many other martial arts from around the world. Maybe three weeks without Pearl and John wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

The front gates of Tonopah Test Range Airport opened to allow the small column of Humvees to enter. On any other day the guards at the front door would have questioned why there was a kid and two very oddly dressed individuals in the line of cars. But today was by no means any other day. Every single piece of communication equipment one base that wasn't encrypted and could play audio had malfunctioned and began playing a strange message over and over again. After the Marine captain in the lead vehicle had explained what they were there for the guards had waved them through and now Pearl found herself studying the sprawling military complex. She found it so intriguing how humanity had evolved to be so efficient at killing one another and at the same time had beaten back so many of the other things that had pushed them so close to the edge of extinction.

It was truly impressive though. Fifty hangars and a massive air strip covered what had once been nothing but desert. She felt a small strange sort of melancholy smile on her face as she thought," _Oh what Rose would think of you all,"_

She supposed it would be the same as what she had thought when she was still here. After all humanity had never been the most peaceful species. Her smile faded as she looked over to Steven. He too was in awe of the size of the complex, but he was still naive to it's real purpose. She knew he would need to know and would find out eventually whether or not she wanted him to. He knew so little of the darker sides of humanity and she hadn't ever really considered how to tell him that they existed and what they were.

But there was no time for that now, no she needed to focus on the task at hand. Garnet had explained to John after the message had played that Peridot must have somehow fixed the Homeworld communication hub. He had been relieved once they told him that even in it's fully functional state there had been a delay of several minutes, sometimes even hours before a message could reach the gems home planet. With whatever condition it was in now it would probably take several days for any message to stretch across the stars to even the nearest gem colony. They had also explained, much to John's annoyment, that the warp pad to the hub was nonfunctional and the next nearest one was several hundred miles away from the hub.

The vehicles stopped and an Airman came over to open the door for the gems. Pearl stepped out and was greeted by the roar of the turboprop engines of one of the five C-130J aircraft on the airstrip next to them. Garnet and steven got out of the other side of the Humvee and stood next to her. She looked over to the front of the column to see John stepping out and greeted someone in a dark blue uniform. The two saluted each other and shared words before making their way towards the gems, still in deep conversation.

"So you're the group of gems that have been working with us in these recent months," the new man said, extending his hand to Pearl. She took it and gave a firm shake, "I'm Colonel Richard Glen, commanding officer of this base."

"It's a pleasure Colonel, has John explained our situation?" Pearl asked.

"He contacted us using one of those pagers. Thank god someone looked over at their receiving stations. I can't even recall the last time that we used those, probably not since Somalia. Though if you can't stop whatever it causing that message to play they might be all we have to use," He said, as the group moved towards a set of what looked like office buildings.

Once inside the thunderous boom of the massive aircraft engines died down somewhat, but it could still be heard through the thin walls. The group of Marines, gems, and GGRCA operatives followed the Colonel down a hallway and turned into a room. Inside where several rolled maps, a set of tables,and a very old looking projector. The group assembled themselves around the table and John stood at the head.

"As of this moment Operation Desert Ghost is at an end and we will soon begin planning for Operation Desert Ghost two. As the gems have informed me and I have informed you Peridot as some how managed to get operational the gem communication hub here on Earth. As my knowledge on the hubs construction and inner workings are limited I will hand off explanation of that to Pearl," John said, stepping aside to allow Pearl to take the stand. As he stepped down he walked over to the table of maps and began to sift through them.

Pearl stood at the end of the tables with all eyes on her. Taking a moment to clear her throat she spoke, "The gem communication hub was what was used to keep Earth in contact with the other colonies and Homeworld. It works through the use of several energy pylons arranged in a manner to project messages, in either text, audio, or video form. About a year before now we, the Crystal gems that is, had traveled there to disable it entirely as it had begun to interfere with TV broadcasts here on Earth. The demolition work lead to some... _difficulties,_ but that is beside the point. The hub was believed to have been made permanently inactive, but as we know Peridot has somehow been able to make it at least some what functional. Without a picture or diagram or really anything to point to I can't definitively say what we would need to exactly do inorder disable it, but unless she has by some means drastically modified the hubs inner workings then all we will need to do is remove enough of the pillars from their placement or cause significant damage to them," Pearl said, looking around the room. The Marines were nodding in understanding or talking quietly amongst themselves. She then stepped aside to allow John to take the floor, having gathered the maps he needed. He spread them open across the table and began to lay out the plan.

"Alright we are extremely short on both time and resources here, but as they Gems described it and as the Colonel told me, we have determined that the hub is located in western Libya, near the border to Algeria," John said, pointing to an area on the map of africa he laid out," The gems have also explained to me that the warp pad in the area is nonfunctional due to a _complication_ during an earlier mission. Lucky for us this base has on it 5 C-130Js that were actually on their way to drop supplies to rebels we are supporting in the region. However as every piece of communication equipment that is not through the internet, encrypted, or text based has been shut down this has taken priority so we will be commandeering one of them and making a HALO jump over the target.

"Sir," one of the Marines piped up.

"Yes Pile,"

"If communications are nonfunctional how are the C-130s going to be able to communicate with their refueling craft during flight?"

Lucky for us the one that we are commandeering is the only one out of the group whose comms are unaffected by the broadcast. Now if we had more time I would have some over head photographs of the area, but we don't have the time to wait for a satellite or UAV to get over the area and give us that intel. However there is a massive plus side in the fact that as it transmits the hub shoots a beam of light into the upper atmosphere. This will act as a beacon for where we will land. We will be dropping with three Humvees, two equipped with M2s and the other with a MK-19. Since we will be operating on foreign soil without the permission of the local government we will be scrapping the Humvees once we reach the warp pad. As we will only have five seat available with each Humvee sporting a gunner some people are going to be left behind.

John paused for a moment to allow it to sink in. Pearl looked around the room and was a little surprised at the expressions of the Marines. She figured they would be revealed to not be going into what could most definitely be a combat mission, but most of them looked annoyed or even angry,"Steven, Pvt. Pile, and Sgt. Rook you will be stating."

"Aw, what," Steven said in a disappointed tone.

"I'm sorry Steven but it's a matter of legality, not skill," John said, turning to the Marines,"Pile you injured yourself at the kindergarten and I don't care what the doctor says, no one falls that high and is just fine and Rook I need someone I can trust to make sure these two make it back to the beach in one piece okay."

"So you're putting me on babysitting duty? Cap that's some bullshit," Rook said, angry.

"That may be, but it's a direct order from your commanding officer," John said, shutting Rook down, "Now our flight takes off at 1300 hours and we should be dropping around 1100 hours. Take this time to re-equip yourselfs in the on base armoury and double up on ammo. We are dropping illegally into an active war zone, so well we will be trying to avoid contact, it is still possible and if we get into a sustained firefight we will need to be ready."

John continued to mark the areas on the map where the group would be moving and avoiding. Pearl watched him with vigor and found it incredible how he was able to so quickly move so many different things into motion. But there was still something in the back of her head that bothered her. He'd said they would be dropping into an active war zone. She'd dreaded this moment from the second she started working with these humans. She had promised Rose only a few short years into the rebellion that she would never directly involve herself in a human war. When the British landed at Beach City that promise changed and Rose asked her to swear that she would never take a side in a human conflict or a human life unless it was absolutely necessary. She couldn't help but wonder if soon the line between necessary and wanted would be blurred.

Pearl was snapped out of her train of thought by the sound of the Marines around her standing and moving to do the tasks that had been asked of them. She stood and made her way over to Steven. She knew the boy was disappointed that he wouldn't be going on the mission and didn't quite understand why. She had hoped it would have been much later that she would need to explain the darker sides of humanity. Infact she had never really considered how to go about the question. She came to the sudden realization that up until humans direct involvement in gem affairs she had never even thought that Steven would learn about their wars.

" _You could just let him live without the knowledge, at least for a little bit more,"_ Pearl thought to herself. The idea did appeal to her, after all she would only have a few short hours, if that, to explain why humans had their standing militaries and why they continued to fight. In fact the more she thought about it the more she realized she knew so little. She had of course studied the combat of the medieval era time and time again, but the lessons of those conflicts were mainly ones of why knights gave their servitude, rather than the reason behind the conflicts themselves. No if she was to dive into this topic with the boy she would need time to prepare. Pushing the thoughts out of her mind she walked over to the boy and readied herself to present him with another white lie. There had been so much she hid from him and one more thing for the sake of his own good wouldn't hurt. But Garnet had already beaten her there, kneeling in front of the boy with and hand on his shoulder to talk to him. They exchanged a few words and soon Stevens disappointed face lit up and the two quickly embraced in a hug. Steven then followed the other two Marines who would be heading back to the temple out and Garnet turned to make her way towards Pearl.

"What did you say?" Pearl asked.

"I simply told him that because we would be going into another country without their leader's permission that if we were caught we would be in trouble and John didn't want him to get hurt," Garnet said.

"Did he ask about what John meant by active warzone?"

"He did and I told him I didn't know,"

"We'll have to tell him sometime, or he will find out on his own,"

"I know," Garnet sid in a low tone,"This is why I didn't want to work with these humans. Steven's too young and pure for their type of warfare and I fear that if-"

"When," Pearl corrected her.

"When he finds out his faith in humanity may be shattered," Garnet replied.

"And if he finds out we've been hiding it from him his faith in us might go with it,"Pearl said.

"But none of us have the expertise in this area. I have long wondered why humankind never came together under one banner," Garnet said.

"There is John, he could explain to Steven the various in and outs of human conflict," Pearl said.

"No, I don't think that would be wise. Well John has built up a relationship with Steven his view on human war could be... _problematic_ and Steven would probably get more from it if one of us were to explain. At the very least we know that we could be more comforting and able to deal with his reaction."

"Sorry to interrupt," John said, appearing behind Garnet, "But I needed to talk with you two."

"Okay, what do you need?" Pearl asked.

"As I stated we will be dropping into an active warzone and well we are going to try and avoid the locals, combat is still entirely possible."

"Yes, you said that during your briefing," Garnet said.

"Eh right, I need you two to carry supplies. Ammo, water, food, medical, anything that a force like ours might need. Honestly if you had the training I would have you carrying weapons, but I would rather have you armed with what you now than spraying lead all over the place," John said.

"Um won't your vehicle's be carrying our supplies?" Pearl pointed out.

"Yes, but I have learned all too well that if you can carry more you should carry more. Look I'm going to be completely straightforward with you, if you won't hump ammo and medical then you won't be dropping with us," John said, in a flat tone.

"Excuse me?" Pearl said definitely.

"How gave you the authority to make that decision?" Garnet asked.

"Section 32 of the Beach City accords, the documents that you both read and signed. Look I'm not asking you to kill anyone and chances are we'll be able to avoid contact, but I don't allow people to come on sustained missions like these without pulling their weight. I just need you to sling a pair of kevlar plates and a rucksack stuffed with ammo and water over your shoulders," John said, trying to reason with the gems. Pearl paused for a moment, thinking. After all he really wasn't asking them to do much more than carry somethings. She looked over to Garnet who gave her a nod.

"Ok, we'll carry whatever you need us to," Pearl said.

"Good, I'll get together your rucks and meet you at hangar 14 in two hours. If you need something to do then you could come and help prepare for the drop," John said over his shoulder, walking away. Pearl and Garnet waited for him to leave the room.

"Then again if John were to tell Steven we could count on him being straightforward and simple," Garnet said.

"I suppose so, still this may be a situation requiring a scale not a machete," Pearl said.

"These are thoughts for another time, for now we should try and make ourselves useful, least our companions think ill of us,"Garnet said, and the two made their way out of the room. They turned down the hallway where they had entered and almost bumped head long into the two GGRCA agents that were accompanying the group.

"Oh sorry, we didn't see you there," Pearl apologized.

"No problem, just watch where you're going next time," One of them said and the two walked around the gems.

"Wait, where are you going? The rest of the group is that way," Pearl said, pointing down the hallway she and Garnet were heading.

"We have to find a working satellite phone and report the change in mission to our CO," one of them said.

"CO?" Pearl asked.

"Commanding officer, Lt. Townsen," he replied.

"I thought John was the commander for your unit," Garnet said.

"No, well yes...kind of. John is our acting field commander and he really only holds that title and the power with it because we chose to follow him and because Townsen gave us orders to do so. Since we're a whole different section of the military we have to report to a different CO and in a reality Cpt. Cupal holds no real power over us. If he gives an order we'll follow it because there's no reason not to, but we don't have to and if we decided not to Cupal could only really tell our suppiour. He doesn't have any power to actually discipline, order, demote, or promote us," the other said.

"Well that seems a little-"

"Odd? Counter-productive? Nonsense? Well it's not. The reason it's that way is so our departments stay separate and both have the ability to act on information given to them under their own intuition," He said, cutting Pearl off.

"Look well we would love to stay and explain the inner works of the relationship between us and the Marines we have a report to make," the other said, and the two walked away.

"That was...informative," Pearl said.

"Indeed, we should go see the other and make ourselves useful," Garnet said. Pear nodded and the two walked outside, and towards the group of Marines loading equipment on to their Humvees.

* * *

 **And Fourteen, wow was this one a bitch to write. Sorry for cutting it before the drop, but I felt it was dragging on and if I had them drop I would have to write the hubs destruction which by the way I have hit a real brick wall with, but that's for me to figure out. On another note, does anyone remember how a few chapters back I said that down the road I would have a massive divergence from the main cannon, probably somewhere are season four? Yeah, well I've been rewatching seasons two and three again and have come to the realization that there are whole archs that just can't happen without just completely disregarding the characters as I've built them so far and in some cases logic. So that shift from the main plot may be coming a lot sooner, and trust me I am just as upset as anyone who simply wanted to see the show with Marines. I really did not make any sort of major plot plans for this area, and planned to coast off of what Rebecca and Crewniverse had done up to about seano four, maybe five. I don't know when it's coming but I do know that I will try my hardest to keep in line with the basic plot of the show and have the big moments represented, but yeah.**

 **Now chapter analysis, first calling Operation Desert Ghost Two, well lame, is actually correct. This is something that the military does to basically make paperwork easier as often when it's done the same people, with the same gear, will be operating under the same or similar pretenses and often in the same area. Great example: Operation Prairie 1 through 4. As to the name of the chapter being section 18 and John having his radio op call one in, in the Beach City accords a section 18 would basically be an form of communication by any thing to Homeworld. The thing with John not having direct control over the GGRCA members he's working with is something I'll get to later, but trust me it's going to be a plot point. Connie training has kind of been something that I'm not quite sure how I'm going to finish up, as I don't really feel I've shown enough of Pearl indoctrination to have the pivotal plot moment where she shouts "Why won't you let me do this for you Rose", but to be far in the show we got a song and a 2-3 min fight/conversation with Steven and Connie. Also I know I introduce like eight new OCs per chapter, and I'm just gonna say the most of them are throw away names I don't even remember, but having an officer who fought with his Marines for several years refer to them by their rank, rather than by name is kinda stupid. Basically if they don't get mentioned past the arch I originally had them for then don't worry about it. I will try and put out 15 before December, but with Thanksgiving and family being around, finding time to write is going to be hard, especially with the amount of rewrites I'll be doing. (not even joking part of me wants to scrap this whole chapter and start over) So that's that, please leave a review if you think of anything that would be interesting to have, you have a question, a critique, or just something nice.**


	15. Chapter 15 Old Feelings

**Chapter Fifteen**

 **Old Feelings**

John sat inside on of the bases open hangars, enjoying the cool shade. Colonel Glenn sat next to him. Both were enjoying cups of coffee, despite the desert heat. John sipped his as he looked out over the airstrip. He was glad to see the gems helping out without having been asked to. He was also glad they hadn't fought carrying supplies. John could understand their discomfort, after all they had excluded themselves from human wars and some of the supplies they'd be carrying could be used should they come into contact with others. Libya was still in the middle of a brutal civil war on par with the closing days of Iraq and there would be no one friendly to the Marines for miles. If anyone found them, they would most likely be hostile. Not to mention that they were parachuting into a country without any justifiable reason. Besides a few IPA member states, namely the UK, Germany, France, Korea, and The Democratic State of Japan, no other country new of the gems existence. In fact only the commanding officers and a few hand chosen personl at each base nearest a warp pad new of the gems existence. It would be a massive blow to US relations with any country if word got out they were harboring extraterrestrials without notifying the international community or even worse if they were captured and held for ransom. But with Peridots distress call John realized that soon a public announcement would need to be made about the gems existence.

"So Captain,"

"Ah," John burted out, caught up in his thoughts, "Sorry sir, was just thinking about the mission,"

"At ease Captain, I just want to make small talk," Col. Glenn said.

"And why is that?"

"I say that it can help calm the mind, and you are jumpy as a rabbit,"

"What makes you say that?"

"You didn't even notice," Col. Glenn muttered to himself, "When I first said something, the very first thing you did is dart your hand off the table and, I don't think that was a flinch,"

"Paranoia keeps you alive sir,"

"Maybe, maybe… So Captain how long have you been in the service?"

"Technically 18 years, but my first few where in the reserves. I joined for the college money,"

"18 years and you're only a captain? Why wouldn't you promote?"

"Well the majority of the first four were spent in college, and then there was Righteous Storm,"

"You served in Somalia?"

"Yup, February of '98 to July of '99,"

"After that?"

"Finished up college in 2000, and was going to retire. I had only joined for the tuition and I wasn't expecting to see much action so why not go do something that makes more,"

"What'd you study?"

"Minored in politics and negotiations, and a major in business management. I was gonna open up a bar in Jersey,"

"Oh really, so I guess you got caught up in the post 9/11 storm?"

"Bingo, first in Afghanistan from 01 to 03 and then Iraq in the first wave,"

"You're kidding, I was in Kuwait coordinating intelligence and marking targets for the invasion. What base were you deployed at?"

"Camp Buehring was my jumping off point, you?"

"Ali Al Salem, so what happened? It seems like you've had a respectable enough career so far,"

"I… got caught up in some… stuff from 05 to 06,"

"05 to 06… wait a minute. Holy shit you're-"

"Yes I'm that Captain Cupal,"

"Jeesh… so what actually happened?"

"Myself and my Marines were put in a situation where our equipment was wrong for the mission and our training too effective," John said, staring off into the hazy desert.

"But I mean-"

"Colonel sir," John said, turning to look Col. Glen in the eyes, "Take the hint,"

"Right, er, sorry. Was just curious, after all it was a pretty big trail, at least in the military world. I honestly thought it was BS that you got pegged after spending what, like 10 months, in the Kurdish mountains,"

"12 months, 3 weeks, and 2 days actually,"

"Jesus, but hey you made it,"

"Yeah, and they haven't booted me yet. How bout you, when'd you go in?"

"January 5th 2002, just finished my schooling and was off to be an officer. I thought by now I'd be running the whole damn air force,"

"Hehehe, didn't we all," John joked. The two men sat and conversed more, enjoying a strange sort of nostalgia found only in those who had served. John did however eventually excuse himself. He needed time to ready himself and make sure the gems were set. He'd would have to get a helmet for Pearl, that gem mounted right in the middle of her head was just asking to take a round. He had his Marines get two extra rucks for the gems, loaded with water and ammo.

John walked over to the on base armory where the rucks would be, after having been made up by his Marines and the armorers. He had chosen to switch out his original M4A1 for the longer barrel M16A4 to give him greater reach more suited to the long range combat that often takes place in desert environments.

Afternoon sir," one of the armourers greeted John.

"Likewise Airman, I need to pick up my ruck and two others for some people attached to my unit. I also need a spare kevlar and to trade out my M4 for an A4,"

"Well we can help you with the rucks and kevlar, but as for the M16A4 we're the Air Force, our standard issue service rifle is the M4. If you want an M16 we have a few A2s in storage, but I take it you were looking for something that could throw 556 out farther with an optic," the airman who greeted John said, hefting the two rucksacks they had put together for the gems.

"Yeah, guess I'll be sticking with the carbine then. At least I can see my shot miss," John said joking, grabbing ahold of the rucks from the Airman after having put on his and placing the helmet on top of one of them. He left the armoury and walked to the line of Humvees parked next to the C-130J they would be loaded onto soon. The vehicles were covered in everything from fuel cans to ammo boxes to spare kevlar plates. If he had the option John would've taken a page out of First Recons book and stripped the trucks bare to maximize fuel efficiency, speed, exit speed, and make them less discernible as American, but removing the doors and unnecessary armor plating would take time that he didn't have. Pearl looked over as John approached with the rucks slung over his shoulders.

"John, do you need help with that?" Pearl asked. John grunted and swung the ruck with her helmet on it into her open arms, catching her off guard and causing her to stumble.

"That helmet on top is for you to wear, if the sizing is wrong I can have a new one gotten for you," John said, handing the other ruck to Garnet.

"Ooookay, and why am I supposed to wear this?" Pearl asked, holding the helmet in her hands like it was some alien object.

"Because that gem mounted in the middle of your forehead is just asking to catch a round round and I would really rather not have to explain that one to Steven," John said, walking over to double check the securing straps on the pieces of equipment mounted to the sides of the humvee, "Nice job securing these, we shouldn't be traveling over any horridly rough terrain, but better safe than sorry,"

"Um, yes right," Pearl said nervously, "John?"

"Hmm?"

"Why would I, uh, as you say catch a round?"

"Well hopefully you won't, but for the exact same reason that I want those fuel and water cans on tight. If we get into contact I don't want anyone getting downed or anything falling off, before or after the drop. Third rule of warfare; better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it," John said, leaning against the side of the truck.

"What are the first two?" Garnet asked, having shouldered her ruck. John had to stifle a chuckle at the sight of what could easily be mistaken as a 80s rock singer getting ready to deploy.

"Ask Steven," John said, pulling out a cigar. He light it with his zippo, taking a moment to read the quote on the side, "Actually scratch that, ask Connie, Steven probably forgot,"

* * *

Steven looked out the widow of the humvee as the desert scenery passed by. It certainly was a far cry for the woods and lush grassy fields of Delmarva, but it looked cool nonetheless. The large, rocky, formations that shot up from the landscape stretched toward the sky, giving an interesting contrast between the sandy yellow and the light blue of the clear sky. He looked over at the guy sitting next to him, who was also taking in the desert. His uniform was different than the MArines,and it's tag said Airman.

"This is bullshit man," the Marine in the front passenger seat grumbled. Steven thought he remembered him as Pile.

"Hey!" Steven exclaimed.

"What!?" He said back.

"Bad words are for bad people, and you have a young mind in the vehicle who could be easily influenced," Steven said.

"Oh shut up," He said.

"Pile," the driver said.

"What Sargent?"

"Knock it with the potty mouth,"

"But it is bullshit! We're combat experienced Marines and Cap screws us out of getting some so he can get buddy buddy with those fucking-"

"Pile if you curse one more time I will kick your ass out of the vehicle and run it over," the driver said.

"But you just did!"

"For dramatic effect, now cut it with the language. I agree with you that it's… an unfortunate situation that two able bodied Marines are being ordered to head back to base well the rest of our unit gets to deploy, but that's reality and whining about it won't change anything. Plus I got a kid at home, and trust me they pick up words easy," the driver said.

"And what's wrong with John being friendly with Garnet and Pearl?" Steven asked.

"Ughhh," Pile sighed,"Look kid-"

"Pile why don't you let me speak to the young man," the driver said,"It's Steven, right?"

"Yes, Steven Quartz Universe," Steven said proudly.

"Cool name," the Airman next to Steven chimed in.

"Thank you, just curious why are you here?"

"Someone has to drive this thing back to base,"

"Oh fairpoint," Steven said, turning back to the driver, "So what's your's?

"Sargent Rook, nice to meet you Steven,"

"The same to you,"

"Now as to your, uh, friends getting friendly with us there is no problem. We're going to be working together for awhile and we will need to act as a cohesive unit. However we are Marines and we _live_ to fight. It's what we're trained for, some even say born for," Rook said, with a tone of pride.

"Oh so you're upset because you wanted to go fight Peridot," Steven said.

"What? No, well kinda," Pile spoke up.

"The Captain and his unit are going to be dropped into Libya, which has been in the middle of a brutal civil war for 3 years now. Well the Captain will try to avoid contact, if it happens it would be a fight to be in," Rook said.

"Wait, what did you say?" Steven asked.

"What part?" Pile turned to look at the boy.

"About the civil war," Steven said, in a lone tone.

"Oh, yeah Libya got into a civil war, as did most of the middle east, after the Arab spring in 2010. Massive protests all over against oppressive, often dictatorial governments, led to these same governments using military force to suppress them. This of course lead to the people rising up against these oppressors, but often the individuals leading these movements were just as bad, if not worse, than the people they opposed," Rook said. He made a turn off the stretch of highway they were driving on and headed for the glistening crystal pad off in the distance.

"Yup, and Libya is one of the worst. Like six different armed factions with dozens of splinter groups are all warring over control of the country and none of them are US friendly. We thought we were gonna get some but-"

"The Captain benched us to keep good relation with our newfound allies. So yeah that's basically why we're a little peeved, but we'll be in action some time so I really couldn't care less," Rook said, looking in the rearview mirror, "You okay Steven?"

"Uh, yeah," Steven said, trying to process what he'd been told, "So these governments and the rebels who are fighting them their, like, I… okay why are they fighting?"

"Wait, one second, did you not know about any of these wars before now?" Pile asked, turning to look at Steven.

"Wait wars! As in more than one!?" Steven said.

"Yeah, dude wars have been raging all over the planet since like forever," Pile said, almost as cooly as someone might talk about the weather, or a sports game they caught the other night.

"But, no that-that can't be right. The gems ended the war thousands of years ago, what or who else is there to fight?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe the 7 billion humans all competing for space, food, and water?" Pile said.

But how, I mean how do you-"

"Win?" Rook cut him off, "I'm catching on that you don't know much about this, if anything at all. Look we're Marines, and our view of warfare is pretty, what's the word-"

"Realistic?" Pile recommended.

"Brutal?" the Airman said.

"Visceral," Rook decided on, "and having us explain to you the… realities of war might not be the best idea. But if you really know nothing about human conflict you should take the time to learn more. Being ignorant to something occurring is the biggest step in allowing it to happen, not to mention that it's your heritage whether you like it or not,"

Steven felt like he was going to be sick. Of course he knew that sometimes people stole or even worse committed murder. But war, no, _wars_ between humans. It was a lot and the Marine's desire to want to be apart of _that_. He needed a minute, no a day, a week, who knows how long. He needed to process this. If they were for a good reason maybe he could understand, but Rook had said that some of the people who lead these rebellions were just as bad as the governments they overthrew. But the rebels where the good guys, fighting against an unjust power. No this didn't make sense, Steven needed to talk to someone. The gems? No, if they knew they would've told him… right? John was out on a mission and Steven had no idea how long it could last. Wait he could take loin! But what if they were gone from the hub by the time he got there, or if he couldn't find lion? No, maybe dad. He was always good at explaining things that were too big for Steven to understand. But he might just dodge it like he had when Steven tried to ask him about the gem war. Connie! Of course she would know something. She read plenty of nonfiction books and had been training with John. She would be honest and tell him what it really was, no strings attached.

"Hey," A shake from the Airman brought him back to Earth, "We're here,"

"Oh, right," Steven said, jumping out from the humvee. He shook the thoughts from his head and stepped on to the warp pad. Rook and Pile stood on either side of it.

"You can activate this thing right?" Rook asked Steven, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.

"Yeah no problem," Steven said.

"So how exactly do you make it work?" Pile said, kicking some sand off of the pad.

It's hard to explain," Steven said, concentrating on his gem. Pearl had told him with practice it would become second nature, but without Steven had to concentrate. He needed to focus the power from his gem out through his arms and into the warp pad, well also focusing on where he wanted to go. The direction of his power wasn't hard, just felt kinda weird and tingly. It was making sure he went where he wanted to that was hard. But he had practiced more, warping from the temple to the washing machine and dryer, and in a flash of light they were off.

* * *

Pearl pulled on the strap, securing the humvee to a wooden palate. It, like the other two, would be loaded onto the C-130J by forklifts. The three would be loaded with Marines who would parachute inside the humvees as with all three of them packed into the back of the plane there would only be room for a few people and their gear to safely jump out. Once they landed the Marines inside would exit, and prepare the humvees to move to those that would be free jumping. As she walked away to allow the forklift to move the humvee on board she couldn't help but find the thought funny that they were trying to find the safest way to jump out of a plane. Still John had assured her that it was both safe and sensible. Plus the humvees did offer them capabilities to reach the nearest warp pad in considerably less time than if the gems had walked. She had considered loin, but still wasn't exactly comfortable with the creature and doubted it wanted to make several trips there and back to bring the Marines and their equipment.

Pearl let out a frustrated sigh. She did appreciate the help that the Marines could give, but lamented their limitations and strict military structure. Still she had once been like them, proudly serving what she and so many others believed to be a just cause. Fighting against a totalitarian regime, for the good of their freedom and that freedom of the planet. Once again Pearl's mind was brought back to Steven. She had know eventually she would need to tell him of the realities of the world, both the gem and human sides of it. He still didn't know about the shattering. As though that one where any different than the countless others she herself had performed during the war. Rose had never been able to bring herself to break a gem but in the most dire of situations, so the task of preventing the enemy for reforming itself often fell to her. She could feel the pit of dread and anxiety forming in her chest at the thought of having to explain these travesties to the boy. If he were a bit older or more mature then maybe, but if he found out now.

Pearl stopped and pushed the thought from her mind. She'd been doing that alot lately, mainly to try and stay focused on the tasks at hand. She tried not to show it but the return of Homeworlders horrified her. She believed, at least mostly, that once they located Peridot and Jasper then the worries could stop and they could go back to their same routine of finding and stopping the corrupted gems that inhabited the planet. But some small part of her knew this was a foolhardy dream, cooked up by herself only in denial. That small part of her knew, that it wouldn't be today or tomorrow, maybe not even years from now, but sometime Homeworld would come back and it wouldn't be a small force on a mission for one of the Diamonds.

"Coffee?" John said, walking up behind her with two cups of the steaming liquid.

"Oh, thank you, but I prefer tea," Pearl said, refusing the drink. She had never enjoyed the dark, bitter, drink, even the sweeter ones that Steven would buy from the coffee shop in town on occasion.

"Suit yourself," He said, taking a long sip from his cup, "You seem to be in deep thought on something,"

"Just reliving old memories," Pearl said.

"Hmm, there's been a lot of that today," John said, taking another sip and staring into his cup.

"Oh, and what things from days past have been on your mind?" Pearl asked.

"Some regrets, some darker thoughts, things best to be forgotten," John said, in a low, far off tone. Pearl recognized it. It was the same tone Rose would have whenever she spoke about the war.

"Do… you want to talk about it?" Pearl said.

"No, we've grown closer Pearl but there are things that are for me and me alone to know," John said. Pearl shrugged, if John wasn't comfortable with talking that was fine. She had enough on her mind and it had only been a few months. Still her curiosity was peaked. What could have happened that the Marine wouldn't want to discuss?

"How bout you?" He asked.

"Oh this place has brought back memories of days past when I was a renegade Pearl beside her Quartz," Pearl said looking out over the base again, "Our armies never got to this point, but there are parallels."

"I have been meaning to speak to you about that actually,"

"And what exactly about it?"

"I've been in the situation of building a foreign army more than once, and find that it's useful to learn the tactics of whoever it is I am working with. At some point you me and Garnet need to sit down and really discuss on how you operated your rebellion," John said, downing the last of his coffee and crushing the styrofoam cup.

"I would be delighted to regale you with the accounts of the Crystal Gems heroism and tactical prowess," Pearl said with a smile.

"I want and honest retelling of what happened, not a bunch of glamor shots," John said, pulling out a cigar. Pearl couldn't help but cringe as he examined it and then took out his lighter to ignite the foul smelling log of tobacco.

"Why do you smoke those?" Pearl asked, barely able to contain her disgust.

"They help me to relax and sleep. I'm a very paranoia ridden insomniac and we may not have a chance to really sleep for the next couple of days, so I'll want to catch all the shut eye I can on the plane," He said, taking a long pull off of it and releasing a cloud of thick smoke.

"If you want to sleep then why did you drink coffee?"

"I've been drinking the stuff all day, I'll crash forty minutes into the flight. Plus it's an appetite suppressant and I don't want to dig into my food until we're on the ground," He replied,looking out to the plane. He stopped and glanced down at his watch, "Crap, should've started this an hour ago,"

"And why's that?" Pearl said, eyebrow raised in question.

"Plane takes off in 5, guess I lost track of time," He said, lifting up his boot to snuff out the cigar, "Meet me back here in two, I gotta go take a leak,"

John turned and walked to the back of the hangar and entered a room. A short while later he exited and the two began to make their walk towards the parked plane, both having pulled the rucksacks they would be carrying over their shoulders. They walked up the long ramp, removed their rucks, placing them in front of themselves and took seats on the fold out cloth benches that adorned the walls. The other Marines and Garnet took seat either next to or across from the pair. The door for the C-130 began to climb upwards, before closing with the upper part of the fuselage, sealing them in. The aircraft turned and began to taxi down the runway. So it accelerated, picking up more an more speed until finally Pearl felt the wheels leave the ground.

"Hey congratulations," John said to the gems.

"For what?" Pearl asked.

"Taking part in the fifth parachute jump since the Marine Corps creation, and the first since Vietnam," John explained with a smile, "Speaking of which have either of you decided who you'll be tandem jumping with?"

"Tandem jumping?" Garnet asked.

"Yeah, neither of you have gone to the Army Airborne School and I can't in good consciousness just throw you out of an airplane without the proper training. I mentioned it in the briefing but I guess your heads where elsewhere at the time," John said. Pearl hadn't actually considered this. Funny usually with such things she would have thought through every angle doubly so. Then again for most things like this she usually had to consider the dangers posed to a 13 year old child.

"I guess I could jump with you," Pearl said, "Though then who would Garnet be jumping with?"

"Well she could either jump with any of us, or take a seat in one of the humvees and drop with them," The Marine next to Pearl chimed in. Pearl and John both looked at garnet, who simply shrugged and said, "If it wouldn't be a hassle, that makes the most sense to me. It would even out our forces, allow one gem to be with both parachuting units,"

"Alright with that settled once we get up to altitude Pearl I'll just have to show you how to have the harrenes secured and how to hold your ruck during free fall," John said, leaning back as best he could.

It was a few minutes of waiting before Pearl heard a buzz and the pilot came over the intercom, Attention passengers we have reached our cruising altitude and are now on our way to the beautiful country of Libya where you will be enjoying your 5 star vacation in the scorching desert. If you are able to see a window, as the pane has only five per side, and look left you will see the lovely Tonopah air base that we just took off from. We will have two aerial and one carrier refueling during our flight at 1900, 0100, and 0700 hours respectively. We thank you again for choosing Air Tonopah as your primary flight agency for all your travel needs,"

"Alright, Pearl how much do you weight?" John asked looking at her.

"Um, I don't actually know, probably not more than 2 pounds," Pearl said.

"Run that by me again," John said, his face a mixture of worry and concern.

"Our bodies are composed of light, literally particles of light. Besides the weight of our gemstones, we're pretty much weightless," Pearl said.

"In that case we'll just need to have a harness rated for the weight of your ruck," John said, walking over to the back of the humvee and opened a container that was filled with black, nylon, straps, and metallic buckles. He shifted around in the container a moment before removing a harness and beckoning Pearl to stand next to him. He placed the harness on the floor, opening it up, and had her stand with her feet in each of the holes. He then lifted it up, and went about making sure it was properly secured.

"Alright, give it a few paces back and forth and a few jumps to make sure everything is secured just right," John said. Pearl stepped back and did as he asked. Besides feeling a little weird to wear something other than the clothes she herself generated the harness fit on comfortably, and she confirmed it with a nod to John.

"Good, now with that out of the way I'm gonna take a nap. Wake me when we land on the Washington," John said and walked back over to his seat, and in a few short minutes he was asleep.

"Is that normal?" Pearl asked the other Marines around her.

"What sleeping? No that's just a thing humans do," one of them across from her said. Pearl thought she remembered John calling her Folly.

"No, I mean for him to fall asleep so fast. I know humans sleep, we've been raising a one for years now," Pearl said, with a chuckle.

"Oh, yeah for Marines, and especially for the Captain, sleeping is an art. You never know how long you'll actually have a chance to catch some shut eye, so you kinda have to figure out how to just knock out whenever you can," The Marine next to Pearl explained.

"I guess that does make sense," Garnet chimed.

"Yup, by the way I like the afro shades look," the Marine next to Pearl said to Garnet.

"Thank you, I like your… helmet," Garnet said, trying to find something to complement in return.

He chuckled before saying, "It's fine, you don't have to tit for tat complements. Honestly of all the people we've worked with you guys, well extremely odd, are a nice change of pace,"

"What makes us so much different?" Pearl asked.

"Well you speak the same language, don't argue over stupid shit, don't steal, at the very least don't complain when we're the one's helping you. Honestly you wouldn't believe what it's like working with Iraqi's," He said.

"To be fair Clark, we did invade their country and never fucked off," one of the other Marines pointed.

"And then tried to rebuild it," He retorted.

"Tried being the keyword," Garnet said, stopping the Marine dead in his tracks. Pearl smiled, it was nice that they were able to have some back and forth. Garnet had assured her that there hadn't been issues with the Marines during her patrol, but she'd still worried. They were worlds apart, literally. But as she watched Garnet and the other go back and forth, discussing this and that, and even chiming in herself from time to time she felt that maybe their little allance would work fine after all.

* * *

 **And 15, sorry again for not having the jump, but there are some biggish plot developments coming next chapter that I felt would be better saved, rather than trying to cram it all into one long chapter, that people might lose interest in halfway through. I'm a little shaky on this one, mainly for Steven's introduction to human conflict. This is something I've wanted to address from the beginning as the types of fighting that Steven and John experience are night and day. Where Stevens is ended with a puff and a cloud of smoke, John's ends the death of a loved one and another family broken. The two are very much contrast of each other, and I really did want to have a different introduction to it, but this way did feel more natural.**

 **NEXT PARAGRAPH CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR LATER CHAPTERS!**

 **Well I think it would be beneficial to read it to start thinking about characters in different ways, you may not. What is read cannot be unread. You have been warned.**

 **Speaking of John, if you haven't caught on I'm just going to come out and say it John has commited war crimes. Crimes plural and some of them on his own terms and not alone and most definitely on purpose. Who helped out and why is something that you will have to read later, but this is something I wanted to address. John is not a good person and is very much the polar opposite of Steven. Well I wouldn't say he is a monster or a bad person, he is not a good one and he has most definitely done monstrous things. Where Steven sees the good in everyone, John sees that anyone can and will turn on you. Where Steven sees a possible friend John sees only an enemy, and beyond that only a target. John is not heartless and does have a conscience. The things he did can be justified, but they are still wrong. In fact he even acknowledges this, he is constantly guilt ridden, has nightmares, and tries to drink and smoke his problems away. I don't know when I will be directly addressing this, but it is coming and of everything may very well be the thing that changes this story's rating.**

 **Alright no more spoiler stuff, sorry if you caught something by mistake and didn't want to, but I really do think it would be good to have some of you thinking about characters differently. I think I've pinned how I want the whole Connie training arch to go and actually am pretty pleased with where I'm going to take it, although it might not have the same emotional feel that the show had.**

 **Finally I have some bad/good news, with the holiday season approaching I will be off from school. I will also be readying decorations for christmas, my birthday (the 11th) and my sisters birthday (the 25th) and trying to find a job to buy people presents and getting ready for my dad's birthday in january. I will write at every available opportunity, but the next one is not going to be out in a week, with crunch for finals and all, and probably not out in the next two. But hey christmas miracles are a thing so who knows. Leave a review on comments, questions, ideas, critiques, anything. I both read and appreciate them and happy holidays.**


	16. Chapter 16 Keep Moving

_Chapter Sixteen_

 _Keep Moving_

 _The mob was massive._

 _John looked out over the sprawling mass of people, surging forward at the Marines, only to swept back at the threat of a bayonet point. There were hundreds, maybe even a few thousand rioting civilians. Kal Mual had gone from a peaceful hamlet 3 miles southeast of Baghdad, to a scene of utter chaos in the early morning hours of it's third day of occupation. He should've expected this and he did, just not in such large numbers._

 _"Fucking Suart," John muttered under his breath, cursing his battalion commander, as he watched the struggle unfold. If the whole battalion had moved into Kal Maul at once then the riot would already be over, it might not have ever even started in the first place. But with only a little more than 200 Marines versus a small city, with a population numbering in the thousands and none of the tear gas, numbers, or armoured vehicles available to them, the Marines of Charlie company 1st/3rd were pretty much screwed._

 _Sitting in the now sandbagged security checkpoint booth that stood only 50 feet from the chain link fence surrounding the small storage complex his company had taken over, he listen into the radio for any changes in situation and watched the Marines ahead of him keep the rioters at bay with hands, rifle butts, and bayonets. His command staff shuffled around him, making calls on small handhelds or marking where the rioters where most concentrated on a map of the city. It was a miracle no one had died yet. Injuries for the Marines had been light, only two head impacts from thrown rocks, and a broken arm from someone who had tried rushing forward with a bat._

 _In fact it was going all to well, and the black thumb tacks placed somewhat haphazardly on the map reflected this. The perimeter of the small set of warehouses and a five story office building was marked with green thumb tacks for the elements of Charlie company that where in the city. A set of darker green thumb tacks outside the city acted as markers for Lasters recon element of 23 Force Recon Marines from the 1st/5th who'd decided to tag along and help out. Surrounding the green thumb tacks within the city where dozens of red tacks, acting as the rioters. The black thumb tacks represented the Iraqi Army forces and were placed where they could be confirmed or where suspected. John and everyone else was certain they were responsible for organizing the riot._

 _John turned around in his chair and reach over for the radio headset that gave him a direct line to the recon team, "Squid actual this is Hunter actual, do you read?"_

 _"Loud and clear Hunter actual send traffic," Laster said._

 _"Do you have anything new on possible positions for Iraqi Army presence in the city?"_

 _"Negative Hunter, but we do have eyes on a group moving with a purpose towards the front gate," Laster replied._

 _"Squid actual can you please specify what you mean by a purpose?"_

 _"Group of eight plus individuals, wearing hoodies, masks, and turbans. Two holding backpacks, too small for RPGs and no tubes. No visible guns, but the lead is carry what appears to be bolt cutters and the two behind are holding blunt objects. All individuals are moving towards the front gate and look like they're about to kick something off,"_

 _"Roger Squid actual, keep on them and update as you see fit over," John said, and handed the headset to his company first Sergeant. He then stood and walked out of the small, makeshift, bunker, grabbing his M16 on the way out. He double checked the mag, and flip the fire selector to burst, flipping the rifle over his back. The Marines at the gate rose from their shallow, sandbagged fighting hole and pushed the chain link gate open just enough for John to squeeze through._

 _Two humvees sat parked across from each other just outside the entrance to the small complex. Both had their guns manned, .50 caliber barrels sweeping back and forth, ready to unleash a torrent of devastating fire. John walked up to the left humvee and pulled himself up so he could speak to the gunner._

 _"Afternoon Captain, come to enjoy the show," He said, in a very poor english accent._

 _"Why yes govna Kale, I do hope the tea is brewing," John joked back, taking a moment to ease tensions. Cutting the crap he looked at the young Corporal saying, "Keep your eyes out for a group of eight guys, wearing hoodies, masks, or turbans. Two of them should have backpacks and another is carrying bolt cutters."_

 _"Eyes peeled Captain," Kale said, with an off handed salute. The Corporal was young and would go far in the Corps. Always able to make a joke and still be able to snap back into to action in a second. John hopped off the humvee and turned to make his way to Pfc. Ford's humvee._

 _"Hey! Get the fuck off me!"_

 _John whipped around to see Pfc. Ryker, who he had tasked with holding the mob back, was being pulled into the crowd. They ripped his bayoneted rifle from his hands and as he reached down to pull his sidearm one of the crowd rushed forward, bashing his helmet with a two by four. The piece of wood cracked in half and Ryker's body went limp._

 _John galvanized himself into action, and rushing forward to pull the rioters off his Marine. He pulled his M16 off his shoulder, took a knee, and prepared to take aim at the rioter who had looped their arms under Ryker's vest. Before he could pull the trigger he heard a whooshing sound, and felt a blast of heat knock him to the ground._

 _John push himself up and looked behind himself to see the other humvee engulfed in flames. A molotov cocktail had exploded on mostly the hood and windshield, but some of the gasoline had sprayed up onto the gun mantle. Well Ford was desperately fighting to put out his burning uniform, it was already too late. The flames rolled up the digital pattern, desert, camouflage and soon the Marines grunts of exertion turn to yelps and then screams of agonizing pain and undirected fear._

 _"Captain!"_

 _Shaking his head John snapped to, facing the direction the voice came from. Two of the other perimeter guards, Sgt Drew. and Clp. Dumont, had rushed forward, one throwing rioters back with bayonet, rifle butt, and fist, well the other strained to pull Ryker back to the fence, his gear weighing the pair down. John slung his rifle back over his shoulder and drew his M9. He ran forward and pushed some of the rioters back,pistol whipping anyone who was to stubborn for just a shove, before grabbing a hold of Ryker, and together with Dumont they pulled Ryker to Kales humvee._

 _"Sir, what do I?" Kale screamed down from his gun. John looked over to the other humvee. Ford's body was limp now, oily, black smoke curling up from his charred corpse. John's heart began to beat faster and faster, his breathing becoming uneven and ragged, and his mind filling with a million different thoughts and worries._

 _He looked up to Kale to say; "Hold your fire", but as he was about to, a man dressed in a hoodie, with a small backpack came around the side of the burning humvee. In his hand was a flaming molotov, and before John could even process what he was doing, he'd already centered his sights on the man. Finger ready to pull back on the trigger, John paused, if only for a moment. For the first time he could see the enemy's face clear as day. It wasn't an old face, or a worn face, or a hard face. It was young, the kid looked maybe 16, young and ready to discover what life really had to offer him. His eyes weren't vengeful, or hate filled, or even angry. They were scared, humanly so, but behind that fear was a hard determination. He, like John, moved and acted with a purpose, to destroy his enemy, and the pause was only for a moment. John squeezed the trigger, the M9s double action pulling the hammer back before realising it forward, onto the back of the firing pin. The 9mm bullet would zipped forward and slam into its target, followed by another and another. The second would land two inches to the right of the first, but the third would miss, and tear in to the mass of people beyond. There were screams and the crowd fell back, giving the Marines breathing room, if only for a short time. The rioters did not scatter, and soon their intentions became clear._

* * *

"So then the upper fits into the lower, and you reinsert the two pins and presto, one fully field stripped and reassembled M16," Cpl. Folly said, racking the bolt of her reassembled weapon. Pearl and Garnet had spent the last few hours getting to know their new companions in the cramped confines of the cargo plane. Pearl had expressed interest in the humans weapons and the Corporal had been happy to show her how they worked.

"That's quite impressive. Are you never worried that the metal won't stand up to the tolerances necessary and-"

"Explode?" Folly asked with a smile, "Well, before any weapon makes it into the hands of a Marine it goes through a number of layers of testing by the manufacturer and the armourer. Not to mention that the Captain makes doubly sure that our weapons are clean. He even has a little motto; Your rifle is part of the fighting machine that is the United States Marine. So before you eat, before you sleep, your rifle will be clean,"

"Have you been fighting with John long?" Pearl asked, looking over to the sleeping officer.

"Oh yeah, the Captain and I go all the way back to 98 and Somali. It's thanks to him I was able to make it into Raiders in the first place," She said, handing the weapon to Pearl so she could inspect it more closely.

"How did he get you in?" Garnet asked across from her.

Folly looked down and sighed, shrugging, "Despite recent attempts at integration, the Special Forces, and the military as a whole, are very much still segregated in terms women serving. But John said that either everyone who came from the 1st/3rd transferred over or no one did,"

"The 1st/3rd?" Pearl asked, looking up from the rifle.

"The Captains previous combat unit, they served in Afghanistan, and Iraq," One of the other Marines across from Pearl said, his name tag reading Travis.

"Yup, Afghanistan was the 1st/3rd's glory days. We owned the Rusal from Kabul to the Khyber pass," Folly said, with a nostalgic smile.

"Who were these Rusal you fought?" Pearl asked, handing the rifle back to Folly.

"The Rusal Allah to be more specific, were section of the Taliban government that broke off a few weeks before the U.S. invasion in 2001. They were a more violent and better trained group of fighters than the rest of the Taliban, as many of the people who broke off with them were veterans of the Soviet-Afghan war. They had the weapons to backup themselves as well, taking little more than 80 of the Taliban's 140 some Soviet T-80 tanks and some 70 of their 180 heavy artillery pieces. Only about three months after we had stepped foot on Afghan soil the was now defunct Taliban government turning to us for help," Folly explained, having pulled out a large map to show the gems. She laid it on the floor and marked spots where various invasion forces would've landed with a marker she pulled from her chest pocket, bullets, and her bayonet point.

"Impressive really, and you say you had control of the country in how many months?" Pearl asked, her strategic gears turning. She had acted as many things during the rebellion, and one if her favorites was as a military adviser and taction to Rose.

"We had pretty much reduced the Taliban government and pretty much everyone else in the area to guerrilla warfare in mostly a harassment sense in about three months," Folly said.

"And what does it look like now?" Garnet said, looking up to meet the Marines eyes.

"Well the Afghan government completely controls about 80% of the country and the remaining 20% is divided between the various warlords and instergents that still haven't been forced out," She explained, moving the markers on the map to reflect the country's current situation. She moved several bullets together in a clump and explained that they were the remainder of the Rusal Allah forces,"Our last deployment was in the Kunar province, taking over for the Army who had decided to abandon the Korengal valley in 2010 after taking heavy casualties over their several year deployment in the area. SOCOM and MARSOC both agreed that our unit would be best for the job,"

"What made you so much more suited than the Army, who'd been there before you?" Pearl asked.

"The same reason we owned the Rusal Allah in 01, John started learning about the culture, history, and even picked up enough pashto and dari to have real conversions with the local tribal leaders. He began having us do the same so that we could actually try and see eye to eye with the people who considered us invaders," Folly explained, with a small, but definitely smug and prideful smile, "It made things a lot easier, although we were still worlds apart from the people who inhabited the Korengal area,"

"Sounds like it was tough," Pearl said.

"It was, we lost some good guys in the valley," Her face and voice growing darker, more somber. But she soon perked up and turned to Pearl, "Well we've spent the last three or so hours talking all about us, I'm sure you guys must have some interesting stories,"

"Yeah, didn't you fight an intergalactic war or something," Travis spoke up, leaning forward with great interest. Pearl looked around and realised that the other conversations around the cabin had stopped and all eyes where on her and Garnet. Just as she was about to speak, there was a buzz and then a voice spoke over the intercom.

"This is your captain speaking, we have begun our descent into the Washington and will be back up in the air in twenty. Please do not exit the aircraft, as we will not be turning around to pick you up if you are left behind,"

Pearl reached over to wake John, but Folly stopped her. Pearl gave the Marine a confused look, but she shook her head, saying, "You heard the pilot, we'll only have twenty minutes on the Washington and John needs his sleep, besides I had just asked you about your crazy war stories,"

Pearl looked at the other Marines all of whom either nodded in agreement with the corporal or stayed still. Pearl shrugged and cleared her throat, she looked to the fusion, "Do you want to take the floor or should I?"

"No please, you were always a bit more passionate about the rebellion then I ever was, lead them in and I'll add detail where it's needed," Garnet said with a smile.

"Well it all began over 6,000 years ago,"

* * *

 _The sun crept down into the long ocean of sand dunes surrounding the small city. Shadows moved, blanketing broken shops, store fronts, businesses and the bodies of 59 rioters and 6 Marines. John peered out at the crumpled, and bruised bodies of his comrades lying in the street. The mob had dispersed once he gave the order to open fire, cutting through the mass of people like a great scythe. Bodies fell, screams filled the air, and at the end of it they had been unable to recover the bodies once accurate sniper fire began to fill the air._

 _He hadn't wanted this. It'd been so much easier in Afghanistan. There they had the time to integrate themselves with the locals, to make them want to resist the Taliban government who'd tried to remove many of the comforts of modern life, who'd forced their on interpretation of belief onto a people. But here the Marines were not viewed as the liberators of an oppressed people. No, Saddam had been careful to use the U.S. and the people of Iraqi Kurdistan as a scapegoat for all the problems that the Iraqi people had experienced after the loss of the first Gulf War._

 _John sighed, and looked away from the window. It'd been so easy the first time that overly confident military commanders had over stretched the supply lines to the front and allowed the troops tha John desperately needed to get pinned down by artillery and harrassing attacks. The Iraqis had changed the game since 91 and now the coalition was paying for it._

 _Twice that day the Marines had tried to evacuate from the office building, once by use of the humvees and the second by air evac. Sniper fire and a roadside bomb had added 3 more dead and 5 wounded to the casualties and caused the column to turn back, lest more Marines end up going home in caskets and they lose more of the humvees. The helicopters had almost been shot out of the sky by what everyone could only assume was man portable air defense. At that point the sun had already begun to set, and John knew there would be no salvation until the morning._

 _To make matters worse John had radio Col. Stuart, only to find out that the battalion had been forced to fall back another mile due to artillery inside Baghdad. Some of the rounds had contained gems that came to life, ripping through Marine and vehicle alike before finally being reduced to shards. John shuddered at the thought of having to face down such things with only an M16 and under artillery fire._

 _On top of everything Lasters recon team had gone dark, and everyone was assuming the worst. They had been John's hope to getting out; or at the very least making it harder for the Iraqis to maintain an effective siege, once he realised that his company was pinned in the city. Laster was like any other Recon Marine and understood the importance of reporting regularly, but nothing had been heard for hours. Then again if anything had been said it would've been missed. At the peak of the riot everyone was either shooting, pushing rioters back, or pulling wounded off the line._

 _He turned, looking over the office. Desks and cubicles had been pushed aside to make room for sleeping spots, and on the lower floors for the wounded. In only a matter of hours his 212 man company had been reduced by 45, 8 of them dead._

 _John turned back to the window, looking out over the lengthening shadows, looking at them as though they held some secret answer to this whole mess. It still bothered him that the snipers didn't fire on the building, only on those who tried to exit. He pushed the thought from his head, he needed to focus. The city spread out before him, nad from his slightly detached point of view it was all a puzzle. There was a way out, he just needed to find it._

 _"_ Maybe if we moved through those alleyways in small groups- no, if their not mined now they will be by tomorrow. Maybe I could have small teams move ahead an clear a path, but what if they get pinned," _John thought to himself. His head leaned against the curtained glass as he tried to come forth with a solution that wouldn't cost more lives. He looked up and something caught his eye. Movement, on one of the small hills bordering the city. He tried to squint, but still couldn't make it out._

 _"Kale!"_

 _"Yes sir?" the Corporal perked up from behind a desk._

 _"Grab me a pair of binos will ya,"_

 _"Sure thing Captain," Kale said, reaching over the desk to grab a pair that weren't in use. Walking over to John he handed them to the officer. Placing the binoculars to his eyes, John pushed the curtains aside and focused on the movement at the hill. He could see a group of three men, dressed in Iraqi Army fatigues. One was holding a shovel and the other two were pulling something on the ground._

 _"What the hell are you doing?" John said under his breath. He couldn't make it out, but whatever it was two of them began to lift it into the air. Then he saw._

 _With his neck limp, uniform ripped, body and face bloodied, Lt. Laster was held by his wrists to a small wooden cross. His hands both had holes in them, the left one ripped in two, from where nails had been hammered in. With nothing to support the weight his flesh must have torn like a wet phone book. But what disturbed John most was he could see the faint up and down movement of the Marines chest. He watched in horror as the Iraqis pulled forward a gas can, emptying it's contents onto the sand bags they had placed around the cross to hold it upright. They lit the gas, the flames crawling up the dry wood and onto the Marine hungrily. But instead of screaming, Laster lifted his head and locked eyes with John._

 _"You did this," His voice echo impossibly from the sand dune._

 _John dropped the binoculars and began to walk away from the window. He turned to see Kale, reaching out with an almost skeleton hand, skin pulled taught to the bones, his face hollowed from weeks of starvation._

 _"You did this to us," His voice came, weak as it had been in those dark, concrete rooms that had been their home for those many months._

 _"No, no, no, I tried, I couldn't, I had no other choice," John said backing away from the window. The office faded, the world turning to a plain of shadows._

 _"You did this," Ford's voice came from behind, his charred corpse stepping forward. More burning corpses followed him, all sporting wounds that had kept them from the march and all repeating the same message._

 _"It was either let you burn or we all died, I-I couldn't, you told me not to!" John begged._

 _"You did this," the voice of the little girls came, coming forward with gunshots staining their white nightgowns._

 _"You had to pay for the sins of you father," John shouted now, tears begin to stream for his eyes._

 _"You should have died there," Ford's still burning body pulled itself forward. Now dozens more of his dead comrades came forth, fingers outstretched, pointing to John._

 _"You killed us,"_

 _"You did this,"_

 _"You should have died,"_

 _"I didn't want this," John screamed. He pressed his hands to his ears, trying to drown out the sound. Closing his eyes, he curled up well the souls of all those he'd wronged taunted him, reminded him of what he'd done._

 _"They're right John, I only wanted information," his voice came across the others. Now his eye flew open._

 _"NO! YOU! You did this!" John screamed standing to face the man who'd taken some much from him. He stood, still wearing the Iraqi officers uniform, with his cigar in his mouth, and his smile._

 _John rushed forward, pushing past the corpses, past the memories. THey latched onto him, pulled him back, tried to keep him from avenging them, or letting themselves become apart of his vengeance. He ripped off their hands, his outstretched toward the throat of the man who'd made him less, who'd forced him to do such horrid things, who lied to and cheated him._

 _John hands wrapped around the throat of him, forcing him to the ground. He could feel him struggle, feel the life begin to leave him. He gasped, and hit John's arms, his face turning red, then purple and finally blue. His struggles became weaker and weaker and finally stopped. John let out a sigh, the others had disappeared. He closed his eyes, his vengeance complete._

 _"Was it worth it?"_

* * *

Johns eyes flew open and his muscles came to life, tensing and untensing as though in anticipation of needed to react to a threat. He looked around, trying to get his bearing. Then he remembered, he was on the C-130, with Garnet and Pearl, headed to Libya. Pearl faced at him, a confused look across her face, "Are you alright John?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," John said, locking eyes with Folly who sat behind Pearl. She could tell he was lying, but John expected that. She was one of the few who knew why John had bad dreams. Even King didn't know the full truth.

"So did you have a good sleep?" Garnet asked.

"Yeah it was fine. What are you guys talking about?" John asked, positioning himself to listen.

"Pearl and Garnet here were just telling us about the battle of the Ziggurat," Folly said.

"The battle of the Ziggurat?" John asked looking to Pearl.

"It was one of the turning points in the gem war, and one of the few times where the crystal gems and homeworld forces ment on open ground as two armies, rather than in a raid or ambush," Pearl said, "Now as I was saying Garnet and I found ourselves backed into a corner, three quartez's and an amethyst facing us. Our comrades where either pinned with their own combatants or where being forced back away from us. You see at this point I had become well known as the renegade Pearl, cutting down any who opposed her, and Garnet-"

"Was the ambition of a cross gem fusion, an utter disgrace to everything the Diamonds stood for, a stain on their order, and I looked, to use one of your phrases, damn fine doing it," Garnet said with a cheeky smirk.

"So I look to Garnet, sabers drawn and give a nod, and before I know it she grabbed me by the hand, twirled me around and just like that-"

"We, were one," Garnet said snapping her fingers, "It'd been quite a chore to try and get the rebellions greatest sword master and affront to the Diamonds to fuse, but when the cards came down We. Were. Awesome,"

"With my grace, and her strength and a war hammer between us it was over before Rose could even begin rallying a force to break through to us," Pearl said, with an excited, nostalgic tone.

"The enemy fell before us like leaves to the wind and soon we had managed to turn the tide and began to rout the homeworld forces," Garnet added.

"Sounds epic," Travis said, looking starstruck.

"Yeah, you said the odds where what, like 3 to 1?" Folly asked.

"5 to 1 actually," Garnet said with a smile.

"There is one question I have though," Sgt. Reves said, "When you say you, fused was it?"

"Yes, that's right," Pearl said.

"So, like how does that work?" He asked, with several other voice saying they had wanted to ask or wondered the same.

Garnet looked to Pearl, who proceed to say, "Well don't look at me, you're the fusion expert."

"Well, I've already given a somewhat-no- very flawed explanation of the process of fusion to your captain, but I think you all would gain something for, learning more about this. Fusion, in its simplest definition, is the joining of two gems minds, souls, and bodies into one single being that they both interact, and feel through. They are then not one person, or two persons, as I said to Stevonnie, you are an _experience_ ," Garnet said, waving her hand through the air to cause some strange sparkles appear, as though to emphasise her statement.

John was about to ask who Stevonnie was, when the light that had been above them flashed red, and the intercom buzzed, "This is your captain speaking, we are currently twenty minutes out from drop zone A, so ready your rucks and hook up,"

John sprang up and began securing his rifle, harness, parachute and ruck he turned to Pearl. The Marines around him had begun to doing the same, a group moving into the humvees with Garnet in tow. Pearl placed her harness on her shoulders and began to tighten the straps, taking out any slack. John walked over and assisted her, watching one of the crew chiefs walk by, "Let the straps have a little slack, or else you'll take the full shock of hitting the ground when we land,"

He double checked that her gear was secured right, and hooked their harnesses together, "Alright when we jump just walk forward, don't look down, left or right, just straight forward. When we're about to hit the ground bring your knees in as though you where sitting. In hindsight we probably should have prepared you for jumping out of a plane more, but hey I guess that's why it's 20/20,"

"What?" Pearl asked.

Before he could answer he heard the sound of the C-130s cargo door unlocking, and the sudden change in temperature as the cabin began to fill with the cold, high altitude, air. The door finally came all the way down and all that could be heard was a sound of the planes massive turboprop engines.

"Hook up!" the air force crew chief shouted, just barely audible over the bust of air. John pull a black, nylon line, with a carabiner attached to the end up from his side and hooked it to a pole running horizontally on the side of the wall. He could feel the Marines behind him doing the same. John and Pearl shuffled forward, until they were directly under the red light. He looked up at it, staring intently, waiting for the change. It flashed green, and John shuffle forward again, before finally pushing himself off the edge of the ramp int to the night sky.

* * *

 **And I'm back, sort of. As those who read my last update know I had somethings in my life happen that took attention away from writing and guess what! I got even more things! So well I am fast at work on the next chapter, finding time to write well also having to take care of a five year old (I'm not joking at all by the way, something similar what happened last time occured and because her mother was dealing with illegal narcotics the care of a five year old girl has now fallen to my father and I) is going to be challenging and guess what starts Tuesday. That's right, the crap hole we know as high school. But I am working towards it and honestly considered not posting this until half of the next chapter was already done, but with my luck something else would happen that would take my attention away.**

 **Now I'm sorry I didn't get anything with Steven and Connie and still haven't gotten to Sardonyx, but I felt it would be better to leave that for the next chapter. I have a rough idea how I'm going to handle the whole Steven asking Connie about human war thing and how I want Sardonyx to play out, but there are some things I need to get to.**

 **So in this chapter I gave a little more detail on Johns days before he was in the Raiders and mention some stuff about the Iraq war. In the cannon universe for this story that conflict went very different from the way is was in out universe. The no fly zones and other sanctions placed on Iraq are lesser and Saddam and his government is not a genocidal towards its people other than the Iraqi Kurds, who take most of the blame for the failing of the war as they tried to raise up against his government with promise of US support. He also invests heavily in gem based warfare, and begins to slowly mine the border between Iraq and Kuwait. I will get into the specifics of the war in later chapters but to sum it up ot results in a US victory, but in much harder fought circumstances.**

 **Also as you may have noticed this chapter had a dream sequence that was a little dark a graphic. Well nothing to crazy there will be more of this to come in later chapters and I may be changing the rating, as I have mentioned before.**

 **Finally expect to see the next chapter in two to three weeks if all goes well and nothing else causes my life to spin out of control. Thank you for your patience and well a little late Happy New Year!**


	17. Not a new chapter, just an update

Hey just realized something that I forgot to mention in my last after word for the last chapter. So I stated that John's service career was 14 years active, with hos first operations being in 98. The reason for the weird timeline is because I believe that Steven Universe takes place starting in 2013 and goes from there. Given that it has only been winter twice in the show two years have only passed so in my mind and for this fanfics cannon the show takes place 2 years ago. Sorry if anyone was confused, my bad.


	18. Chapter 17 Well That's New

**Chapter Seventeen**

 **Well That's New**

The first thing Pearl felt was the rush of wind. John had walked them forward until they were standing just below the red light. The strong winds filled the inside of the aircraft with a cacophony of whooshing sound. Then there was a buzz and she looked up to see the light flash green. John began to shuffle forward. Pearl moved with him, trying to follow his advice and a keep her eyes forward. The sky looked more vibrant here than above beach city, but something else took her attention form it. Off to the right of the aircraft came a bright, yellow greenish light. Pearl craned her neck to get a better look at the once again activated hub, but before she could she felt herself moving downwards.

Snapping her head down, Pearl had just enough time to glimpse Johns boots lean forward off the edge of the ramp, until finally pushing forward and off into space. The air screamed by her face, blocking out all other sound. Although her eyes did not dry she found herself needing to pull the googles one of the other Marines had offered her on to keep small bits of debris from flying into them. She looked up slightly to see John extending his arms outward to slow their descent and Pearl was about to do the same, when a sudden upwards jerk caused the wind to fly out of her.

Now looking fully upwards, Pearl saw the source of the almost immediate decrease in their rapid descent. A large, and strangely square light gray parachute fluttered above her. She watched as John grasped the handles dangling above him and pulled hard on the right one. The pair swung around and were now facing the communication hub.

What remained of the destroyed pillars had been rearranged to power what was left of the hubs main relay. She could tell though that they were still miles off from the hub and would probably have a short walk once they landed. Looking to her left and right Pearl could see the other Marines moving beside her.

"Pull your feet up," John said behind her, lifting his legs as though he were sitting. Pearl did the same, and the Pair drifted a few hundred meters more before she felt her feet brush and then finally sink into the soft desert sand. John quickly unclipped himself from her, and began pulling the Parachute towards him. She got up and started to help, her ruck dragging in the sand behind her. John pulled the parachute pack off and began half folding, half stuffing, the parachute inside, before finally securing it with a heavy duty strap across it.

"Pull off you jump harness," He said, beginning to remove his. Pearl did as he asked and watched as he turned them over and removed the parachute bag from his and secured both of their rucks so they could be worn as backpacks instead of dragging in the sand between their legs. John removed a headset from his and then hefted the ruck up onto his shoulders and took a knee, bringing forward his rifle. He clipped the headset onto the side of his helmet, and flick a small switch on the side, "The is Hunter actual, who's on?"

"Your communications can work here?" Pearl asked, lifting her ruck onto her shoulders, and summoning a spear. She then took the same crouched position as the Marine, her eyes locked onto the green spire. She flicked her vision from shadow to shadow, searching intently for the green homeworlder.

"That's what I'm checking, sounds like we don't have any serious interference. It is strange but for our benefit, I honestly figure we would have to use UV lights to mark friendly positions," He said, turning a dial on the headset.

"Hmm, it could be due to the fact that the hub was made for interplanetary messages, not local ones. THere might be a deadzone in close proximity to the spire," Pearl figured, looking over to see John listening to his headset.

"Roger Lotus, will light up UV markers and hold position," John said, and then turned back to her, What'd you say?"

Pearl repeated herself, John nodded in agreement before reaching down to one of the pockets on his right leg to pull out what looked like glow sticks. He placed two of them together, and grasping the ends of them with his left hand, he placed the other end under his boot and pull upwards. Pearl heard a faint crack and then he turned and handed them to her, "Tie one of these to your ruck, dead middle and the other on the front facing straps."

Pearl did as he asked, although she noticed the white sticks hadn't gained any additional color or luminences. John did the same and then shuffled around in his ruck for a minute before pulling out a somewhat large, black, case. He opened it and pulled out what looked like a strange pair of oversized binoculars. He pulled off his helmet and clipped the strange goggles on. Placing his helmet back on and the case back into his ruck, he flipped the goggles down over his eyes and looked at Pearl, "Yup, your UVs are up,"

"My whats?" Pearl asked.

"UVs, those glow stick looking things I handed you. They produce UV light," John said, tapping the side of the goggles. He looked over her shoulder and pushed a button on the side of the headset, "Lotus, are you approaching our position from the east?"

Pearl could hear faint, distorted speaking in the headset and then John nodded, saying into it, "Roger Lotus we see you, give a call out next time,"

Pearl turn to see the faint outlines of the other Marines making their way towards the pair, weapons low. She was surprised at how close they got before she could make out the sounds of movement, and even though she knew the direction they were coming from it wasn't until they were a few feet away that she could make out how many were in the group. However she soon could clearly see the faces of Clp. Folly, Pfc. Travis, and Sgt. Reves.

"Alright Travis, Folly, get the antenna up and running, we've only got ten before they circle around and I wanna make sure that they know where we are," John said, turning to Reves and Pearl, "You two, with me. We're gonna keep an eye on that thing for movement until the humvees hit."

Pearl nodded and the three crawled in the sand upto the top of a dune where they had a clear vantage over the hub's base. Reves moved his large gun forward, and stuck the two metal legs at the end of it's barrel into the desert sand. A large, and somewhat complex looking optic sat on top of the weapon. Pearl looked over the hub, or what was left of it.

" _Strange,"_ She thought, eyeing two craters in the side of one of the supports. Both had bits of what looked like soot around them. The three sat there in silence, each carefully scanning every inch of the green tower for anything out of place, for some minutes before there was a quite shuffling behind them and John slipped away. Folly came forward in his place, sporting another pair of the same goggles John had. Pearl could hear the sound of the aircraft's engines growing louder, and looked up momentarily to see its outline coming across the sky their direction. She watched as three large, rectangular, shapes, exited the back of the aircraft. Each one soon had its fall go from a blistering drop, to a slow and steady descent.

John came back up to the trio and crouched behind them, "Alright Travis got on the horn with the 130. They've dropped all the cargo and are headed out. Pearl, you and I are going to head to their landing point and help them unload. Sargent you'll assume command of the fire team until we get back with the rest. Have one eye on the hub and one eye outwards, I think Pilgrim may have abandoned the sight due to outside interference. Travis warn the other teams about the same,"

Pearl nodded, hefted her spear, and followed the Marine to the drop point, "When you say outside interference what exactly did-"

Pearl stopped, her foot stepping on something hard and metallic. She looked down and saw she had stepped on a strange, elongated, piece of bent metal. She picked it up, and only then did she realize that it was a magazine, different to the ones the Marines carried.

"That's what I meant by outside interference," John said, pointing to something of in the distance, closer to the hub. Pearl squinted, and managed to make out the cab and hood of a truck. The rest of it, at first, looked buried beneath the sand, but on closer inspection Pearl could see it was missing, completely blasted off.

"What happened?"

"My best guess, some Libyan rebels or warlords had the same difficulties we've been having and tried to solve it on their own. Looks like Peridot gave em a run for their money,"

* * *

 **17 Hours Earlier**

Peridot had tinkered with the broken human weapon until the planet had made almost another complete revolution on its axis, and had managed to, as best she could, pull it apart into its base components. From what she could discern the weapon primarily functioned through the use of carefully crafted and placed springs, pins, and hinges. It was both horridly primitive and yet beautifully advanced. The weapon would be completely immune to the strongest of electromagnetic pulses, but it still lacked the power of things like her own hand mounted blaster. Still it did factinate her, and she was certain that when she got back to homeworld she would replicate the device, if only for her own amusement.

"Maybe if I were to make some advancements of my own I could make a pitch for it as a possible weapon to introduce into the quartz ranks," Peridot said to herself.

The green gem looked over to the makeshift control station. As far as she could tell no message had been received, " _Although there would be little need to say that they were coming to get me...right? They couldn't- they wouldn't just abandon me here, right?"_

Peridot shook the thought from her head, there would be nothing gained from dwelling on things she had no real control over. If nobody came for her then she would just build a ship off this crummy rock. After all the era one landships had to be somewhere on this oversized clod right?

Peridots thoughts were cut short by the sound of _something_ out in the desert. She stood and tried to identify the source of the noise, or even what it was. It sounded like talking, but weird and garbled, and with some other noise behind it. But whatever it was it was definitely getting closer, and was now accompanied by the sound of machinery and soon following that was the sound of human weaponry. Peridot dove behind one of the pillars and readied herself for a fight.

 _Whoop! Whoop! Dat's da sound of da police! Whoop! Whoop! Dat's da sound a da beast!_

"What in Diamonds name?" Peridot said, peeking out from behind the pillar, blaster ready. She saw two, bright, white human vehicles approach the hub. One had a large human weapon mounted in the back with an operator manning it, well the other was loaded with five human, all carrying weapons. The vehicle with the large weapon would fire occasionally in short bursts, seemingly at nothing at all.

For a moment it looked as though they intended to bypass the hub, but her hopes were dashed when the vehicle with the humans riding in it stopped, the mobile weapon platform following suit. The human exited their vehicles, and the strange noise that was being emitted from the unarmed transport ceased. Peridot could see them talking amongst each other, in a language she didn't recognize. One of them motioned several times to the hub and back to another human who wielded a strange, elongated, device on their shoulder. It had a tubular shape and flared out at one end, well coming to a blunt point at the other.

Peridot considered making her presence known. After all the last time she'd used her repulsor on a human the fight had left them in seconds and these ones where both armed and looked like they wanted to cause trouble. But before she could make up her mind the human holding the strange tube took a knee and fired it at one of the hubs supports.

"That does it!" Peridot shouted, appearing from behind the pillar. She aimed her blaster at the armed transport and fired. A ball of bright green, crackling energy zipped towards the vehicle and vaporized the back of it, weapon, operator, and all. The force of the impact drove the remainder of the vehicle into the sand.

Before she could pull her blaster to fire on the group the gem stone around her was peppered with the small, metal cones that the human weapons fired. She dove back behind the pillar and switched her other limb enhancers repulsor on. She then aimed it at a chuck of the destroyed pillars that littered the ground around her makeshift communicator. Pulling it towards her she used it as a mobile shield, and dove back from behind her piece of cover and not a moment to soon. As she moved out to fire another one of the humans primitive explosive ordnance zoomed at her previous position, blowing a crafter where she had been only seconds before. The blast caused her to lose her balance and she went tumbling off the side and onto the desert floor below.

"Ugh," Peridot groaned, pushing herself up to her knees.

"You gonna come wit us," A voice said above her and she felt something small and hot press itself against her head, "After you take down dis ting,"

Looking up she saw tow humans standing over her. One held a weapon to her head, well the other stood a few feet behind him, his weapon hanging by a strap from his neck. The one with a weapon pointed at her looked to be their leader, or at the very least he was above the others. He looked her up and down and spoke, "Now how you gonna take down dis thing?"

"I'm sorry, but this _thing_ is my only way off this crummy planet, so no I will not be taking it down," She said, looking up to meet the eyes of her capture. It was a human of the male variant, wearing a set of torn body enhancers and nothing on it's gravity connectors.

"Aye wasn't asking, green man," He said, pushing in more with his weapon, his face growing hard. Peridot slowly moved her blaster forward, until the energy focus point was just in front of his foot. She then gave him a small smile and fired. A geyser of sand shot into the air, and his body was turned to a mist. The other human fell backwards from the explosion, injured and she half shuffled-half ran to the nearest piece of cover. More of the small, metal cones peppered around her as she ran to a broken pillar.

She sat there, trapped in open space for a few moments, trying desperately to think up her next move. Then she heard the engine start. Her immediate emotional reaction was relief, if these humans were leaving because they no longer wished to fight her then she would only have to wait until she was picked up. The second was realization, followed by dread. If they were leaving, then they could and probably would tell other humans where she was. Other humans like them. Other humans with their strange weapons. Other Humans who would come back in larger numbers. Who would be ready.

Pushing herself up Peridot swung out from the pillar she'd taken refuge behind. She could see the remaining vehicle hadn't moved very far, it's operator still waiting for the others to climb on board. Charging her blaster she took aim at the back of the vehicle and fired. The recoil and lack of a good shooting stance caused the shot to miss and instead slam, squarely, into the back of one of the humans who was climbing on. His body, along with part of the back of the vehicle, was almost instantly vaporized in a ball of green energy. Two more humans were still running to the transport. One turned and fired a long burst from it's weapon, holding it low at the hip. The second was the one who'd managed to survive and vainly tried to grab onto the now fleeing vehicle, it's operator having decided that waiting for his comrades was not worth the risk. Peridot aimed her blaster at the chest of the human who'd stopped to fight, and prepared to fire. But in that instant, she couldn't. It was clear that his weapon had either malfunctioned, or run out of it's ammunition, as he'd stopped firing and began to fumble with the weapon. His face was a mix of panic and desperation as he vainly tried to make the weapon work. Finally the curved piece that was sticking out of the bottom fell down onto the sand, and with it a small piece of jagged metal. His face turned a deathly white and he looked up at her, seeming ready to except the hand he'd been dealt. But Peridot couldn't, his quarrel was not with her, at least not directly. He had, as she had, been probably given orders by some higher authority and was now in a position that threatened his existence only because someone else had ordered him to be there.

Peridots crosshairs were lined exactly on his chest. Death would be instant, painless for him. Only a simple hand gesture stood between him and nonexistence. Just don't think about it, just form a fist, don't even look. A fist, that's it. But she couldn't force herself to. Even though every part of her knew that it was illogical, that letting this human live endangered herself and her mission, she couldn't do it. Lowering her blaster she watched as the human realized it's opportunity and run to his comrade. Lifting him up the two made an odd sort of run in the direction of the vehicle.

Peridot collapsed to her knees, and let her head sink to the ground. She'd just doomed herself and possibly the whole mission because she couldn't kill an inferior life form. Looking up she watched as the human vehicle spend off towards the horizon. She would need to move, and now. Pulling herself up, Peridot looked at the hub. It would still be able to function without her and even if the hub itself were destroyed she could still count on the message reaching some colony. Regardless of whether or not it would she needed to move. More humans would be coming, and she was not a soldier. She knew full and well she'd gotten lucky with this encounter and she'd let pointless emionts override her logic. She should have just vaporized that stupid human and then the transport. Then she wouldn't have to worry about more coming, at least not for a little while.

With a sigh Peridot activated her lift generator and moved off in the direction of the warp pad. It was in the same general direction as where the humans had fled, but she hadn't seen any human settlements that way beyond a few small villages. Well she flew she opened up her remaining logs on the abandoned colony. She decided she would move to the landing point for the Era one drop ships. Maybe there she could find some other form of communication, or a functional ship. At the very least she could probably get the ships weapons systems halfway functional, giving her a means to keep off anyone who might interfere with her work. Closing the log she flew in silence towards the warp pad.

* * *

Garnet seated herself in the back seat of the second humvee, sitting next to one of the GGRCA operatives. Two Marines seated themselves in the front, securing their rifles in gaps in the side of the seats. The Airmen pulled straps over the top of the humvee, securing them tight so that the doors wouldn't be able to open during the fall. They hit the hood of the truck twice and Garnet then began to feel the vehicle start to slide backwards.

"Nervous?" The GGRCA operative asked.

"No, this isn't the first time I've fallen from high altitude," Garnet said flatly, having an internal laugh at the man's some what befuddled expression.

"Uh, well good… I guess," He said, adjusting himself awkwardly. Garnet shrugged, and gripped onto one of the handles above her, bracing for the drop. There was a momentary acceleration and then the few seconds of weightlessness before the chute deployed above them. Garnet felt herself and the whole vehicle jerk upwards as the chute caught a draft, and then began to slowly drift downwards. Looking out the window she could see the condition of the hub. She grimaced, remembering how it got into its state. It was probably for the best Amethyst didn't come on this one, she wouldn't take it well when Garnet decided to fuse with Pearl. She figured that the Marines probably brought explosive with them, but she was sure if it was enough and she could already begin to see the sun rising. If this was an active war zone then time was most definitely of the essence.

The humvee finally touched down with a dull thud, and Garnet waited for someone to come and undo the straps holding the doors closed. Pearl came forward and undid the straps, opening the door for her companion. The other's got out, each taking a knee and scanning their surrounds with weapons drawn. After a moment there seems to be a silent agreement of all clear, and the troops stood.

"Start unpack the C-4 and have Gable come up. We've got about 45 until sun up and I want to be out of here in 15," John said to the Marine who'd gotten into the drivers seat. He gave the Captain a quick nod and dashed off to the other humvees.

"That won't be necessary John," Garnet said.

"And why exactly is that," He replied, with a confused expression, "I want this thing out, not disabled, but destroyed,"

"Trust me, _we_ can manage that," Garnet said, putting a hand on Pearl's shoulder. The ivory gem looked at her, before slowly coming to the realization of what Garnet was getting at, "Pearl I want you to fuse with me,"

Pearl's eyes began to water, and her face turned to a smile wider than any Garnet had seen on that, or any face, in a long time, "Don't cry Pearl,"

"Sorry, it's just been so long," She said, dissipating her spear.

"Um excuse me, but what exactly is going on here?" John asked, stepping between the two.

"Well you did say we were short on time, and I don't know how much explosive you have, so I figured Pearl and I would fuse to make quick work of things," Garnet said.

John put his hand to his eye and sighed, "I have several questions, one this was absolutely your plan all the long wasn't?

"Yes, and before you ask why I didn't tell you, just imagine Pearl how she is now, but on a cramped aircraft for 17+ hours," Garnet said.

"Okay, then two how long will this take," He asked.

"Fusing or destroying the hub?" Pearl asked, before Garnet could say anything.

"Both"

"All of five minutes, tops," Pearl said with a cheery note and smile.

John looked at the two gems, then at the hub, and then at his watch. He then reach over to his headset, turned a dial, and spoke, "Attention team A hold position and be ready to check comms when the tower goes down. All other units reconvene at the Mk-19 humvee in two. Hunter Actual out," looking back at the two gems he said, "Alright do whatever you've gotta do to make this work,"

"Are you ready?" Garnet asked, turning to her partner.

"Almost," said Pearl, stretching her arms and legs, "Oh it's been to so long,"

Garnet and Pearl stepped away from the humvee, and began. Pearl gave two elegant pirouettes, holding herself lightly and looking over her shoulder through the corner of her eye at the fusion. Garnet brought her arms up and around, finally clasping her hips and then pulling them up to her hair. Both of her gems began to glow brightly, their light growing as she slowly moved her way towards Pearl. The two came close, Pearls back to Garnet front, before Garnet lightly took ahold of Pearls hands, dipped her, and then tossed her into the air. The ivory gem spun until she reached her zenith. Spreading her arms she looked magnificent in that single moment, still and graceful, before gravity took hold and brought her back down into Garnets waiting was a flash of light as the two gems became one and Garnet felt herself fade into something else entirely.

* * *

" **Hey P, long time no see,"** Ruby said to the gem, having now joined the dio.

" _Hello Ruby, Sapphire, it's been far too long,"_ Pearl said to her companions.

" _That it has renegaid,"_ Sapphire said, " _Well, shall we begin?"_

* * *

"Gooood evening everyone," Sardonyx said, pushing aside the curtains. She couldn't help but smile at the bewildered faces of the Marines below her, "Oh it has been much to long since I've been around,"

"…"

"Hmmm, tough crowd. Well maybe all you need is a little pizzazz!" She said, summoning Pearl's spear. She gave it a toss and the with her lower set of arms summoned Garnet's gauntlets, waiting until the spear fell perfectly between them to crushing between the two. Finally she tossed all three into the air as they were and watched them grow until finally she had her warhammer, "Now how about that ladies and gentlemen?"

There were several internal chuckles as she scanned the group and saw a few with mouths hanging open in awe. Finally her eyes settled on John, "You must be the Marine officer I've heard so much about, it's wonderful to meet you!"

"Uh...hi, I'm Captain Cupal," he said,

"Oh please Jonathan, I already know you, sorry if my appearance is off putting. I am the lovely Sardonyx, charmed to finally have a face to face," She said with a smile and tilting her warhammer slightly over her shoulder.

"Yeah it's nice to meet you to," John said, coming out of his shock at the fusion, "Garnet said you could do something about the hub there and we're kinda pressed on time here,"

"Why certainly I can," She said, and set the Marine down. She stepped over to the hub and gave it a quick up and down before launching herself into the air. She landed gracefully onto of one of the pillars and gave it a good, hard, thwack, sending a few hundred feet off into the desert sand and sending the Marines diving for cover.

"No need for alarm, I'm the careful one," Sardonyx said with a wink, jumping to another pillar and knocking it off, sending it flying off into the desert. She continued this process, bounding gracefully from one to the other, until finally landing on the top of the spire, and giving the middle pillar a light tap. It broke free of its constraints and plunged down into the sand below. She pushed off the hub, and landed gracefully in front of John. She gave few small bows, and received a few clapps, before saying, "Now as much as I would love to stay, I feel that your transport my not be up to my size requirements,"

With that she gave one more deep bow, before turning to a bright light and a shirking down to the size of her two parts.

* * *

"We were awesome!" Garnet said, grabbing ahold of Pearl's waist and lifting her.

"We really were, oh it has been far, far to long Garnet. We should make this a weekly thing," Pearl said, laughing.

"You two really, uh, were something," John said, still a little taken aback.

"What's wrong John, never been held by a giant woman?" Pearl asked, teasingly.

"Oh if only Steven were here, he'd gotten a kick out of that," Garnet said, thinking back to the song the boy had written about Opal. Then again apparently he'd not stopped singing for a good hour or so.

"No actually I haven't but I'll give her this, she knows how to make quick work of a tower," He said, looking around at the pillars, stuck into the desert sand like giant spears.

"So are we good to get moving?" Garnet asked, snapping back into the situation.

"Yeah, just give Travis a second to double check that comms are up and running fine," John said leaning against the humvee, a pulling out the cigar from the airbase. He lit it and gave a long pull, exhaling a cloud of smoke, "You two really are some else,"

"Thanks, I guess," Pearl said, some what shyly.

"I really do find it insane that nobody major found out about you until now. Probably for the best though," He said, taking another pull, "I mean anybody 500 years ago probably would've branded you witches,"

"Well you could say we're pretty magical," Garnet said with a smirk.

"I guess you could," John said, before listening to some chatter in his headset. He sat there for a few seconds, nodding, before saying, "Roger Lotus, break it down, pack it up, and move to the humvees. We need to be outta here ASAP,"

Putting out the cigar, and sliding back into what looked like a fanny pack, John pushed himself off the humvee and looked around. The humvees were basically ready to go, only things still being done were the Marines loading the mounted weapons and removing the tire boots. Garnet heard the crunch of sand behind her and turned to see Folly walking towards them with Travis and Reves in tow. Garnet and Pearl walked over and helped them lift the broken down antenna into the back of the humvee. Once it was in Travis hopped into the front seat, and drove off the wooden pallet, which Folly and John pulled over to the others.

"What are you doing?" Pearl asked.

"Burning the pallets, we can't have anything to tie us here, not even unmarked pieces of wood and plastic," John said, setting the pallet on the others. One of the other Marines walked over with a smaller gas can than the ones that had been used to hold diesel and water. He opened up and dosed the pallets, the acrid smell of gasoline meeting Garnet nose. The Marine pulled a flare from his waist and popped it, the bright orange red flame shooting out on end. He tossed it onto the pallets, the gasoline igniting instantly. John stepped back to the humvees and looked around.

"Everything ready?" John yelled to everyone, and got back several affirmatives. Nodding he opened the front passenger door of the humvee he'd been leaning on, and pulled a folded map out of his chest pocket. Pearl and Garnet got in the back, Garnet moving aside so that Folly could take hold of the mounted gun. Travis took the wheel and started up the engine. Speaking into his head set, "Alright, we're heading 230 west and will turn 245 once we're 3 miles out. We've got a good five days of travel before we reach the pad in Algeria. Keep comms light, I doubt anyone out here would have capability to trace us, but no need to waste battery power on I-spy,"

The humvees tire spun around a few times before gaining traction in the sand and moving off in the direction John had said. The others fell in behind thier's and all three spend off in the direction of the warp pad.

* * *

 **And 17, actually felt pretty good about this one. Sorry I didn't get to Steven and the whole war thing (trust me I've got a plan) but it felt like if I had it in this one I would've been shoehorning it in. Also I've got bad news, I won't be doing the Sardonyx arch as it was done in the show. I really wanted to, like the whole arch would've been great for getting John to build a more personal relationship with the gems and allowed for some great character development, but there are several problems, the biggest being that I've said the escape pod is in government hands and for Pearl to get a hold of and use it she would need to break into a military facility, steal it, and then put it back without anyone noticing twice. There's also the fact that unless Pearl actives the hub in a way to only block communications for Beach City her reactivating the hub would cost the lives of possibly hundreds or thousands of people due to inability to call someone for help, or hospitals being able to exchange vital information between each other, or soldiers in the field being unable to call for airsupport, resupply, or reinforcements. Plus there is no way that the GGRCA would just let Pearl get away with that. I will still have the main ideas of the arch present, but sadly no great reveil when Pearl gets caught.**

 **The battle scene with Peridot was honesty done mostly because I'm slowly trying to build Peridots morality, because there's a whole chunk of time in the show were she's not on screen that would have plenty of character development. (I also kinda needed a reason for her to leave the hub, because if she were still there and there was no obvious reason to assume she left then there is now way she wouldn't have been caught.) I feel like Peridot could, if forced to, actually kill something, but many of the times that she makes threats in the show their really empty. She is after all a technician, whose weapons are primarily for self defense, not attacking another individual outright. Yes I know that in like chapter two or three I had her threaten Amethyst with shattering, but again this was an empty threat, because let's be real here the Diamonds would be pissed if Peridot just shattered a Crystal gem without a direct order, and Peridot would probably know better.**

 **Finally I recently got two critical reviews (one much more than the other) and I want to make something as clear as I can, critique me, as much as you possibly can. I do really enjoy the reviews people leave about how great the chapter was, but these don't help me grow as a writer, especially if they're done when the chapter wasn't good. I only ask that any and all critiques be constructive, if you just going to do a three paragraph rant about how my writing sucks and you could do so much better stop. It's not useful to me because I'll ignore it, it's not useful to you because it's just more negativity and it's not useful to other critics because they might not want their review to look like yours and just end up not saying anything at all. So use whatever language you please, be as mean as you want, but make sure that what you are saying is actually useful and not just trying to tear me down. The review by Tank234 is an excellent example of what to do and the reviewer he mentions in his review is an great expamle of what not to do.**

 **Oh and one more thing I know this chapter took a while to get out,(and I know I say this like every chapter) but the next one won't be any different. I've got a research paper that I need to do that could determine my future college, a DBQ on southern reconstruction and another research paper for Botany on lentils, plus several make up assignments for Geometry soooooo yeah. I'll try and put it out faster, but I almost might make promises that I won't, but with that I'll be signing off, see you in two to three weeks.**


	19. Chapter 18 We Need To Talk

**Chapter Eighteen**

 **We Need To Talk**

Steven and the two Marines landed in the house with a flash of light and a soft thud. The one named Pile asked where the bathroom was, before covering his mouth and dashing out the front door to throw up over the side of the balcony. Rook said goodbye and went outside to help his friend, holding the side of his head as he walked. Steven walked over to the bed and flopped down. He lay there for a few minutes, thinking over new information.

" _War between humans,"_ Steven shuddered at the thought. He'd seeing what the rifles the Marines carried could do. He couldn't get why, " _People have everything they needed, what reason could there be to fight and-"_

Steven shook the thought from his head. There was no need to keep going over things he knew he didn't fully understand. He needed to find Connie, he could count on her to give it to him straight. With a sigh he rolled off the bed, and began to walk towards the door when he heard talking coming his direction.

"Are you sure it's fine for me to come in when the others aren't here?"

"Yeah girl, don't worry about it. 'Sides I'm bored outta my gourd,"

There was a flash of light on the steps, followed by laughter. So enough Connie opened the door, followed by Amethyst, whose head was now in the shape of a squash, "Connie! Amethyst!"

"Steven!" Connie said, setting the books she was carrying down and rushing forward to give him a hug.

"Oh hey Ste-man, I thought you and the gang were gonna be out for like a month," Amethyst said, shape shifting her head back to its original state.

"Yeah that was the plan, but then Peridot started broadcasting this message on all the TV's and radios from the hub," Steven said, walking over to the counter with Connie.

"So why are you here?" Connie asked, puzzled.

"Well, it's actually for something I wanted to talk to you about," Steven said nervously.

"Oh, and what's that?" Connie asked, getting up to grab the books she had. Setting them down on the counter Steven quickly looked over their covers. None of them looked like books he'd ever read.

"Well John said I couldn't go because the hub's in this place called Libya and it's apparently in the middle of a… civil war," Steven said, trying to gauge Connie's reaction to the topic. To his surprise she seemed to be waiting for him to add something.

"Well Steven Libya is a pretty dangerous place, especially without a warp pad out of there. It was Sugilite that wrecked the pad right?" Connie said, reaching for one of the books she had brought. Steven looked over them, they didn't look like the fantasy novels Connie usually read.

"Yeah, me and Garnet mashed it up," Amethyst said, reaching into the fridge.

"Where did you get these?" Steven asked, picking one up to look at it.

"These are like my warrior homework. John's first Sergeant gave them to me, he's taking over for my training until Pearl and John get back," Connie said, flipping through the one she'd grabbed until landing on the page she intended to read.

"Oh yeah, I was wondering how you were going to get that well Pearl and John were gone," Steven said, setting the book back down, "So Connie I actually kinda wanted to talk to you about something,"

"Yeah, what's that?' She said, lowering the book to look at him.

"So John said I couldn't go because of the civil war, and I was..well… are humans at war with each other?"

"Yes, Steven what do you think John and his Marines do? They fight wars, human wars," Connie said, somewhat matter a factly.

"But why? Mom fought the Diamonds and freed the Earth. What reason would humans have to fight?" Steven asked.

"Steven there's a whole host of reasons people fight. Sometimes is over things like food and water, or other resources. Sometimes it's over conflicting ideas of how to live or govern. Honestly Steven, sometimes it's just because people don't like one another," Connie said, setting her book aside, "I forget a lot that you didn't go to school and learn about these things. You went on cool missions finding strange artifacts, and seeing amazing places. So how bout we remedy that, I can tell you what I know about these conflicts, why they started, and what I know about them. Their pretty big parts of how the world works so you should be aware of them. First let's start with what you already know,"

"Okay, well I know that thousands of years ago there was the rebellion, and then the Diamonds corrupted the Earth, or the gems on Earth. At some point they started fusings shards together, but that was before the end of the war. I don't really know much else beyond that," Steven said, trying to think of anything else, "Oh Ranoldo mentioned something… something about humans being…knitted against each other? No that's not right,"

"Don't worry about it, we'll just begin were I started," Connie said, adjusting herself to be more comfortable, "Actually Amethyst you could be of some help here. You lived during these times so feel free to chime in anytime with what you know,"

"Yeah sure, I can think of a few things that would spice up any history lesson," Amethyst said, pulling a jar of longways sliced dill pickles and grape jelly out of the fridge. Steven watched the gem add them to the pile of things already on three slices of bread that he could only guess she was trying to use as one giant slice.

"Rrrrright," Connie said, tearing he eyes away from the monstrosity, "We'll start in 1775 in colonial America,"

* * *

Lapis listened intently. Listening for some other unnatural sound to pierce the clam, continuous, movement of the water. She'd heard, felt, and twice even saw the humans transports move through the water above her. In the first days of their isolation she'd only noticed small vessels, and the occasional large, steel, frigate, smashing the waves beneath its' massive bow. Soon this would change, more and more large ships began to appear, and with them strange vibrations through the water. Well she couldn't be sure she was certain that they were meant to find her. At first she simply shifted the water to disperse these vibrations, but the presence of more ships and more vibrations had forced the fusion to move, performing a strange, almost spider like walk across the ocean floor, with the occasional diversion by the more volatile piece of the monster that now lurked in the darkness of the Atlantic. It would often be in the very direction of the thing Lapis was escaping.

She knew exactly what Jasper was doing. The warrior thought, and thought correctly, that if they were discovered then they would be forced to fight. Lapis remembered the beach. The piercing pain of the humans weapons zipping through her form. A hand drifted to her back, feeling her gem. The impacts were so very close to it.

" _You know they wanted you in shards and I can't really blame them. Humans are so fragile after all, and you could destroy them with a flick of your wrist,"_

" _Steven won't let them do that, if they even find us,"_

" _If? I believe you mean when. I've seen this kind of thing before, and trust me when they find us there will be no mercy,"_

" _I find very hard to believe you, of all gems, were hiding from something, especially when you've done nothing but try to convince me that we should attack them this entire time,"_ Lapis retorted, turning her attention back to the ocean. A large group of the creatures that inhabited the oceans swam by, their sliver scales glittering every so lightly in the dim sun beams. They seemed to look at the fusion, curious about what this strange creature was that had entered their domain. Suddenly they scattered, zipping off this way and that into the ocean, before finally coming back together a bit away from the fusion.

" _Oh I wasn't the one hiding, it was in facet 12. Some rebels had barracked themselves into a cave-"_ Lapis did her best to drown out yet another one of Jaspers military boasts. Their relationship had fallen into a weird sort of symbiosis. Of course Jasper would try and convince Lapis to fight, or let her take over or even try and do so by force before being subdued. However for the most part they simply shared experiences, feelings, did whatever they could do in the prison she had constructed for them.

Her eyes drifted over to a small movement on the ocean floor. A small, multi-limbed creature was slithering it's way across the sand. It extended on of its arms out to touch her finger, before it seemed to shift. It suddenly pulled it's arm away and zipped off into the ocean, in the same direction that the others had gone.

" _Hey! Are you even listening? I sat here and listened to you drone on about that weird creature you saw down here, the one with no arms or whatever, the least you could do it listen to my amazing-"_

" _Shut up,"_ Laps said. Something was wrong. The water was moving unnaturally and the creatures in the water around her were beginning to or had already left.

" _Don't you tell me to shut up. If I weren't stuck here I would punt you into space,"_ Jasper snarled back, " _What's wrong anyways?"_

" _I don't know… something's coming,"_ Lapis said, looking upwards to see if a ship had slipped past her unnoticed. As far as she could tell there was nothing above them. She reached out, feeling the waves and currents shifting in the water. She reached lightly in the direction of the disturbance, feeling it grow closer. It was big, but far off, and higher up than most of the see life she'd seen. Finally she could feel it. It was cold, metal, not alive and definitely not natural. Water was being churrened behind it faster than any creature could ever do and it was without a doubt hollow.

 _ **BBBRRIIING!**_

" _AHHH!"_ Lapis screamed, as the fusion recoiled back in reaction.

" _What was that? What's going on?"_ Jasper said, her voice barely audible above the ringing in the blue gems ears.

" _We need to move now!"_ Lapis yelled, galvanizing the fusion into action. Two sets of arms lifted themselves out from under the sand they had been buried under and began to surge forward, before being stopped in their tracks.

" _I not running again, if they've found us we need to fight!"_ Jasper said, pulling the arms back and almost slamming them into the sand below them. Lapis formed the water around them, softening the blows and once again formed more water into chains, pulling Malachite down into the sand. She shifted it out of the way, slowly and carefully, before situating the fusion into the hole and covering them with a layer of sand. She added ever more chains, being care not to disrupt the water more than she could counter. All the while she added more an more of the mental chains around the other half of the prison. Jasper continued to scream out, to shout, and bellow all she could before more chains wrapped themselves around her head and face, turning the angry outbursts into little more than muffled cries. With the distraction dealt with Lapis began to move the water around them, shifting to make the loud sounds that eliminated from the strange craft dissipate.

* * *

Master Chief Renner sat over the sonar station, listening intently as the active sonar beamed another pulse into the ocean floor. She was glad the Captain had finally allowed her to use the active sonar, instead of the passive. She knew that there was no way that sonar designed to keep tabs on an already confirmed target would somehow discover a target that was actively trying not to be found. She did however understand his want not to. There still hadn't been an official statement about the creation of the new gem based task force and apparently the ships above them had to chase off a sail boat loaded with camera equipment and microphones.

" _Conspiracy theorists abound,"_ She thought, shaking her head. She focused her attention back to her headphones and screen, watching the thin green line make it's rotations, the occasional blip popping up as some sea creature smaw away from what it could only assume to be some massive animal coming to eat them. Another pluse sent out and it's echos played back into her headphones. Her face shone disappointment, " _Just rocks, shells, and sand. Where ever this fusion is it does not want to-"_

Her train of thought came to an abrupt stop. The most recent echo came back, but it wasn't what she'd expected. It was almost like TV static or cascading sand, but whatever it was it was moving. Master Chief Renner almost shot her hand up to call over her CO, but then the sound was gone on the next echo, or maybe fainter. She stopped, pressing her hands on either side of her headset, slowing her breathing, doing everything she possibly could to listen.

 _ **PING**_

The pulse went out, and she waited. Counting she waited for the strange echo to come back. She almost believed it was gone when she heard it again. Faint, ever so faint, but there without a doubt. Her hand shot up, "Lieutenant, I think I've got something,"

She heard the abrupt screech of rubber on polished metal, and the click-clack of hard rubber hitting steel come towards her. Lt. Sung came up behind her, and reached for the headphones in her hand. He listen for a few seconds, long enough to hear a few echos. His face went from a clam excitement, to annoyance, to confusion. He pulled the headset off and set it down at her station.

"How long ago did you hear that?" He asked, looking at the petty officer.

"Just a few seconds before calling you over sir," Renner responded in earnest.

"Have you ever heard anything similar to it this station?"

"No sir, I don't believe it's static. If it's not the target my best guess would be a deep sea water jet, but it doesn't sound quite like that,"

Lt. Sung stood there for a moment, hand on his chin, contemplating. She knew that he was in a tough spot. If this turned out to be nothing and he handed it up the chain time could be wasted looking for nothing, but if it was the target then not reporting allowed it to get away. Finally he nodded, "Thank you Master Chief, I'll send up the chain. Keep listening and report anything else you hear,"

Renner gave the Lieutenant a nod and turned back in her chair to the screen. Placing her headphones back on she listened, but the sound was gone. She shrugged, if they had passed over it it didn't really matter. She knew that once it had been reported that it would be acted on and if the target was there then it wouldn't be much to long before they would be found.

* * *

Two sets of eyes watched as the black, steel, cylinder drifted above them. More of the harsh pings came from the vehicle, but they were beyond the fusion, and the harsh slam of sound missed them. The eye narrowed with the realization of what this meant. Lapis had assumed that humans could dip below the waves, but she had figured or more hoped they would not have capabilities of this scale. She knew this would mean a change in tactics and a clamp down on the other half. With the humans actively searching for them she couldn't allow another outburst like that.

The fusion closed its eyes, and the half of it still in control closed her eyes as well, drifting into the strange realm created by the two gems. She could feel herself entering that strange dream like state. Lapis's eyes opened to a room that seemed to have no walls, or ceiling, but a floor made of water. It was solid beneath her feet, it's surface shone like granite, but still liquid to the touch. At the rooms enter sat the hulking orange and red warrior, bound by chains. She convulsed and strained against the constraints, her angered screams at the blue gem being rendered completely inaudible. Her eyes burned with a hatred Lapis understood all to well. A hatred against her prison and her guard. A hatred against everything that prison was.

"I am going to make something _very_ clear," Lapis said, slowly extending her arms down. Small tenderals of water began to lift up from the water and wrap themselves lightly around her wrists, "This _thing_ we made is not a weapon for your use. It is not a tool to use to release your hate. It is a prison, you are it's prisoner, and I-"

Lapis paused, her eyes narrowing. The tenderals, having formed full gauntlets around her hands, now began to extend downwards into the water they from where they came. They glided through the water towards the chains holding Jasper and attached themselves. They then slowly, if only to let what was happening skin in, began to pull her down, "I am your warden,"

For once Jaspers eyes did not show anger, aggression, or even annoyance. No her face gave nothing more than fear. The fear only experienced by a trapped, and wounded animal, wanting for the blow that would bring on silence. But there would be no blow and there would be only silence, and for the first time in a while, Lapis smiled. It was a small smile, not even wide enough to show her teeth, but it was a dark and sadistic one. She smiled at the thought of inflicting what she had felt for so many centuries on someone else. So many years of dark, lonely, isolation. So many eons of built up anger and hatred, and to be inflicted on someone who could be considered partly responsible for her very imprisonment. It was a sick, primitive, and dark smile, but one she embraced wholeheartedly. It was the last thing that Jasper saw as the water rose, swirling around her body. Soon enough it swallowed her whole.

But the smile soon faded. She knew the threat was empty, or at least it would become that way. It was already taking an immense amount of energy to keep the soldier bound as she was and keeping her in that state for- forever. For the first time Lapis really began to consider what she'd done. She had committed herself to trapping the most powerful soldier known to gem king _forever._ But she shook the doubts from her head. No, she both could and would do this. She'd endured on her own for thousands of years, she could use the weight of Earth's ocean to trap a monster for thousands more.

* * *

Garnet looked out the bullet resistant window at the passing sand dunes. John had debted stopping after a few miles to hunker down and then move during the night, but with clear hostile human activity near the communication hub he elected to move as much as they could in the next 24 hours. The small convoy had been driving for about an hour or so and the hot Libyan sun beat down on them, turning the insides of the humvee into a furnace. She was glad that, unlike her human compatriots, she was immune to the heat.

Or rather mostly immune. Well she was not sweating profusely like the Marines in the humvee with her the heat certainly was not comfortable, although the fans that where mounted next to each window corner did help alleviate the heat to some degree. She also found that she could only stare out the window so long before having to pull her eyes away, the sun's light reflecting off of the sand burning them. The occupants rode in silence, not out of some sort of feud, but rather because none of them had anything to say, or had found things to occupy themselves with. Sgt. Folly sat in the turret mount, swinging her grenade launcher back and forth every so often. John was intently studying a map of the region, marking certain areas with sharpies of various color, and occasionally bumping Clp. Travis to show him something. The two would have a curt, to the point, conversation and then return to their tasks.

Pearl had also occupied herself with staring out the window, although the ivory gem looked as though she wanted to explode in a flurry of conversation. Her left hand tapped it's fingers several different patterns, going from organized, rhythmic tapping, to a seemingly random, undirected tapping. Garnet suppressed a small chuckle. She knew full and well that the swordsman was still shaken for their fusion. Her gazed turned back to the window, once again watching the still, sea, of sand.

"So, two quick questions," John said aloud, breaking the half silence of the vehicle, "One, Corporal, why was I not woken during the refueling?"

Cpl. Folly shifted around to be able to poke her head somewhat down into the humvees interior from her turret, "You seemed tired sir, and the refueling only took long enough for you to share a few quick words with the ship's Captain if you had even managed to find him. I thought that you would have benefited more from additional sleep,"

John nodded slowly in understanding, then shrugged and turned as far around as he could to face the gems. Looking at Garnet, "Now am I correct in assuming that since this missions beginning you intended to fuse with Pearl to take down the hub?"

"Yes,"

"Then why was I not informed on this," John said annoyed.

"I had already seen that the outcome would be in our favor. Why waste time on a conversation who's outcome has already been determined?" Garnet said flatly. She'd seen that she and Pearl would've been able to disable the hub much faster and more efficiently than the Marines could've with their explosives.

"Because _I_ am this team's leader, and I need to be informed of _any_ change to the current situation. Do you know how many pounds of C4 we packed that is now completely useless? That could've been food, or water, or ammunition," John said, staring the gem down.

Garnet's' eyes narrowed. She'd known that this would eventually come. A challenge to her leadership. John may have pulled them out of the frying pan of being the GRACE's lab rats, but he was not her leader. He was most definitely not the Crystal Gems leader. He had no knowledge of their struggles, their traditions, or thier past beyond what he'd gathered from the stories he'd been told. So Garnets narrowed eyes locked with his through their glasses, and for a brief moment the silence in the humvee returned with an unwelcome and unfamiliar tenseness to it, broken only by the continuous sound of sand crunched beneath rubber. Finally Pearl, having picked up on the growing tension, broke the silence.

"Well John she is correct that everything turned out fine, but you are right. We need to make sure you are kept in the loop on decisions we make as a _team."_ Pearl said, looking between the two. Garnet shifted her gaze to the ivory gem. Pearl was giving her the look she would give Amethyst when the quartz hadn't picked up on something obvious.

"You're right we do, because well I know full and well that you may not consider me this teams leader, as far as the GGRCA and the rest of the board is concerned I am, and if they see that I don't have control over this teams actions then we will have a major problem on our hands," John added. Garnet stopped and considered the Marines words. He was right that the gems were still walking on thin ice in terms of the board put in place above them. She didn't understand the GGRCA's fascination with getting the gems under their direct control, but she did know that they were not pleased with the results of the last mission.

With a sigh she conceded, "I'll keep you in the loop on anything visions I have and how the effect the condition of the team at large,"

"Good, we need to keep communication between everyone involved in an op. It only takes one person thinking they know more than everyone else to sink us," John said, backing down.

The tension now gone the humvee returned to it's more normal state of non-conversation, interrupted only by the occasional cough, few words spoken, or the rustle of a map. After a few hours of driving John picked up the radio, and told the column to course correct a few degrees south to avoid a small village that had popped up on the map. However despite the fact that nobody in the column had spotted anything out of the ordinary Garnet couldn't shake the feeling that they were missing something. That someone was watching them. But, almost as soon as the feeling made itself present, it was gone. She shrugged, paranion was to be expected in their current situation.

* * *

Steven and Connie talked at length about the history of humanity for hours, or rather she would lecture and he would ask the occasional question like: "Okay so why did Napoleon want to conquer all of Europe? Or, wait was Sherman Confederate or Union?" to which she would give a simple, to the point answer, if the question allowed it. Amethyst had, as promised, added a few details here and there that certainly gave some of the stories and at other point got a glare from Connie. Their history lesson was cut short by a buzz on the table.

Connie lifted one of the books, and picked up her phone, "Oh darn, my mom just texted. I was supposed to be home 10 minutes ago,"

"I'm sure she'll understand why," Steven said, reassuringly. Connie nodded and began to gather her books. With her things ready the two said bye to Amethyst and walked out the door, Connie taking a moment to look at another text.

"She said I need to be home soon, do you think Lion could take us?" She asked.

Ohe yeah, no problem," Steven said, looking around for the pink feline, but to no avail. The cat was nowhere in sight.

LLLOOOOOOIIN! LLLOOOOOOIINN!" he called, looking around for the pink ball of fluff. Connie joined him in the calls for the cat, but still he didn't show. Steven was about to say they would need to walk when a furry, pink, paw placed itself on his head.

"Loin! You goofball," He said, half-scolding the cat, "We need to get Connie home, could you take us?"

The large cat gave the two a blink, and then yawned and stretched. He then lowered his back slightly so the they could climb on. Connie pointed out that she couldn't hold on to Lion and her books at the same time so Steven took them and placed them inside the cat's maine.

With everything secured Steven gave the beast a light tap on the side, letting him know they were ready. The turned towards the length of the beach and began to run, giving a roar and creating the portal to their destination. With a flash of light they were off to their destination. Before long they came to a sudden stop outside Connie's house and the two slid off the side of the great cat. Steven jumped inside Lion's furry maine and pulled out the collection of books that Connie needed to read.

Popping out of the cat he handed them to her, "Thanks Connie, for explaining everything to me,"

"Don't worry about it Steven, but I haven't even come close to _everything_. I'll be honest, if you want to learn more you should research some yourself. The library has tons of books on the things we talked about today and well some of the sources may be questionable, you can find out lots about history online," Connie said with a smile. Steven smiled back, although he still felt that there was so much more missing. Connie had filled him in on a lot, they'd gotten through almost all of the 1800s, but she was right when she said she hadn't covered everything.

Connie picked up on his doubt, "You know, there's a whole company of Marines who are intimately familiar with warfare. If you want to know more you should ask them,"

"I know, it's just most of John Marines can be kinda of…" Steven paused, searching for the right word.

"Crude? Rude? Crazy dudes?" Connie joked. THe two shared a small laugh.

"Yeah, all of the above I guess," He said.

"Really if you want to know more you should ask them, or better yet ask John when he gets back. I'm sure he would have lots more to tell you than I could," Connie said. Steven knew she was right, he just didn't want to wait so long. She had done a lot to fill him in on events and put things in context, but the idea of it still bothered him.

Lion prodded Steven lightly on the shoulder with his nose. Steven got the memo, he was holding up Connie. This was further confirmed by Connie's door opening and her father stepping out to call her inside. The two said their goodbyes and Steven mounted Lion, heading home.

* * *

 **Eighteen, YAH. Finally I got this out. I be really, there are a lot of things in this chapter I don't dislike, but I'm not exactly fawning over. Mainly the interaction between Steven and Connie (which on a quick side note was not at all how I wanted that to go. My original idea was to have Steven and John have the "conversation" about human warfare, but I wrote John in Libya and Steven not in Libya and only realised my mistake after I had already posted the chapter. Like, immediately afterward. So I then decided to go with Connie, but then realised she lacked the very reasons I wanted John to explain it, namely actual experience in a warzone, fighting and killing other humans. So I went with the history approach, but having Connie give a lesson in U.S. military history is not what you came to this story for, so the whole conversation got skipped over. I still intend for Steven and John to have this conversation at some point in the next few chapters.) and the power struggle between John and Garnet. This is something that I've tried (though I don't think very well) to have building in the background, and also intend to visit more later. Really well I think it added something to the chapter, I also feel the whole thing may have been a little forced. I also kinda figured out how I want the interactions between Pearl and Garnet revolving around their fusion to go, though I haven't pinned anything down yet.**

 **On a different note I have some good news. I finished 2 of the 5+ things keeping me from writing and for the next two weeks will have a bit more free time to write. I've also have written the first two pages of the next chapter already and do feel good about it. I also have figured who the story is going to end. Don't worry, it's a long way off, but I do have the end goal in mind and that certainly makes it easier to figure out how I want to get there.**

 **As always leave any critiques, comments, question, suggestions, or other stuffs in the reviews.**


	20. Chapter 19: A New Perspective

**Chapter Nineteen**

 **A New Perspective**

"Stupid, crummy, planet. Stupid, clodding, mission, Stupid, freaking, humans," Peridot's rant continued to grow in length. She'd managed to fly a few hundred units in the direction of the warp pad she'd used to gather supplies for her makeshift communications array, before her lift generator had seized. She then fell awkwardly a few hundred feet, being glad she hit sand rather than the sections of rocky plateau that lay a few feet under the the sea of shifting particles.

Picking herself up and dusting herself off she popped open the limb enhancer and immediately knew two things. The lift generators energy banks had become clogged with sand and they would be impossible to fix in her current condition. Correction, they would be very easy to fix in her current condition, but not without exposing more of the devices internals to even more sand, possibly causing more problems she couldn't fix. So, with a heavy sigh, the Homeworlder was now forced to walk.

There was atleast a small plus in the fact that she was now much harder to spot, but the thought did little to comfort her. She may as well have just removed one massive marker form the dozens of others that stood out about her. Still though she pressed on under the repressive heat. She was glad to have limb enhancers on her feet, as she could feel the heat rising from the sunbaked sand.

With nothing else to do she opened her logs once again, and began to read through them. She was nearing the bottom of the list again and had reached the point were she rereading the logs was almost done purely because she had little else to do.

"Ugh, why didn't I download more. I mean come on Peridot, you left nearly half of you memory banks empty," she said to herself. Oh, Diamonds the isolation was really starting to get to her. Then again what else did she have to do but talk to herself and reread things she'd already read a dozen times over.

With a sigh she scrolled through a report on the planet's more dangerous fauna that apparently lived in the area she currently inhabited. She was about halfway through the third paragraph when a sound greeted her ears. The sound of human engines.

Panic quickly set in, and Peridot looked wildly every which way for somewhere to hide, but to no avail. On all sides there was nothing but sand dunes or flat, bare rock. With little else to do the technician began to run in the opposite direction of the sound, pulling herself over a sand dune. The roar of the human engines grew louder, and Peridot could only fear them eventually coming over the top of the dune on her. She readied her blaster and waited. The sound came closer and closer, until she was certain that they had to be driving right on the other side of the dune. It would only be a few second before it came roaring over the top, crashing onto her or even worse stop just outside of her cover. The humans would disembark, and surround her with their weapons. This was it, it was all over.

But, much to her relief, the sound didn't come over the dune or stop. It instead continued off in the distance, and once it was far enough off she pulled herself up to investigate the vehicles. They were not the open, white, transports that had attacked her earlier. No, these transports could only be from the very same humans that had pursued her in the canyon.

"What in stars are you doing here," She said to herself, peering at the fading transports through narrowed eyes. Of course she knew the answer. They could only be here to disable the hub, and the fact that they were coming for the hubs direction told they probably had. All three of them looked to be heavily armed, and she almost thought she could make out two of the gems from the beach in the backseat of the middle one, but her view was soon blocked by the rear most transport swinging back behind the one ahead of it.

Peridot stood from her hiding place and made her way to the tracks left by the transports. Tracing them she noticed that they were heading the same direction she was, but had suddenly veered off course by a few degrees, " _Maybe they're heading to a human settlement,"_

Whatever it was it was good for her. If they were going away from the warp pad then she would be free to leave this waste land. Walking back through the tracks she took a moment to take down another log entry of her own. Clearing her throat she began recording, "Log date 7 2 3, I have lost the communication hub due to conflict with the human inhabitants of this planet. I am now making my, on _foot_ , to the nearest warp pad to attempt to then make my way to the colony's dropships. I believe they may be in possession of something I could rig up to get me off this rock, or at the very least send out another distress signal. A few moments before this recording I had to evade the same group of humans who I've encountered in the past, coming for the direction of the hub. This leads me to believe that they have disabled my distress signal, leaving me once again in search of some other way off world. I can only hope that the signal got out to someone, somewhere else than here and that they will be able to find me wherever I end up being-,"

Peridot stopped, thinking over what she just said. She realised to things with what she said. One, she had no real control over her current situation. Sure she could make a plan and even carry it out, but there would always be some, most of the time some pretty great, possibility that things would end up going south. Two, she had no idea what was doing, or how she was really going to get off this ticking time bomb of a planet. But she stopped herself. Over thinking was her worst enemy, and her logs always sounded bad with random pauses, "With the possibility of later human interference in mind, I must keep my wits about me and myself ready for any threats that may present themselves. I am making my way to the warp pad on foot, as I have also lost my lift generator due to the sandy conditions of the waste land I currently inhabit. I hope to find shelter of some form soon so that I may make repairs. This is Peridot Facet-2F5L Cut-5XG, sghing off,"

Peridot tapped the side of her limb enhancers, and felt something strange. The buzz that accompanied turning the record function on went through the mechanical finger, rather than the one she knew to happen when she ended a recording. Looking down at the small, holographic, screen she saw the icon for record pop up and underneath it a series of digits counting up, showing that a recording had just begun.

"CLOOOOOOOOD!"

* * *

Line upon line of the alien text scrolled down the screen, being processed through software set up to try a decrypt the language. Dr. Lisa Keter took another long slip from her now cold coffee, and stared blankly at the screen. She was one of America's top experts on gem related technology, history, and culture, having helped design the very software she was using to try a learn about the gem script that dotted the walls of any gem related location. But this was well beyond her.

The military had contracted her and her team, along with several others internationally, to try and decipher what they could from the wreckage of what was now officially known as Kepler 2-18 and 2-19, or the ship and it's escape pod that had "landed" outside of the town on the eastern seaboard. Despite her constant requests to go to the site of the cash itself she'd been refused, at least until what remained of relief efforts was over. Oh how she hated government contract work. Too much money, too little freedom. That had been her mindset going into this project, and to a degree it still remained, but now having to look at the files contained within the ship she was glad to have full access to Quantico's military research section and no distractions from the taxing work in front of her.

Well the room she was in was originally intended for testing the buoyancy of various watercraft, it was large enough to serve her teams purposes. The majority of the space was taken up by the longest surviving section of the ships hallways, the pinky finger. Within it was contanted most of the records she and her team were currently trying to turn into english, or any human language for that matter. Unfortunately the text was very different from what they were used to deciphering. This was to be expected of course, a language does not stay the same for thousands of years, interstellar civilization or not, but it seemed as though whole rules of grammar had changed. At this point they had even uploaded it on to a second computer to try and decipher the text back to old gem script, but that station was having just as much luck, that is to say none. The software had gotten good enough to be able to turn even the most fragmented gem text into readable english in a few hours, but it hadn't even gotten the first words of the first sentence of the files it was being given. Infact it had taken weeks to even get the software to not crash from the massive load of files it was having to deal with. Of the three, mostly intact drives they had pulled from the wreckage they had determined that they each contained somewhere between 500 and 2000 terabytes of readable data. Of that roughly 6000 terabytes they still had no idea if it was even useful information or if it would be encrypted, and on top of that there was still the escape pod.

Lisa glanced over at the dented, lime green, orb. It's surface was made of a material similar to the shielding used on spacecraft designed to reenter the atmosphere and it's controls where something quite extraordinary. They were a strange form of holographic interface that seemed to immediately adapt to the users physec and biometrics. Her team was still stumped on the purpose of the liquid that filled the pod, although interestingly it appeared to produce oxygen and nitrogen in breathable amounts.

Turning back to the screen she took another sip of coffee, and then began to rub her temples. At this point she couldn't tell if she'd stayed up for the past 30 something hours because of her own interest in the ship or because of the pressure from the military to churn out something they could use. She could understand their urgency, after all there still hadn't been any real announcement to the public about the ship, or what was being done to find its crew beyond saying that a Marine task force had been deployed to try and locate them.

A hand suddenly placed itself on her shoulder, causing her to jump. Turning around in her chair she saw Lucas, the lead expert on gem structure on her team, "Sorry Lisa, didn't mean to scare you. The rest of us are calling it a night, you probably should too,"

"Thank you Lucas," Lisa replied, rubbing the tiredness out of her eyes, "But no, I need to stay here incase the software makes a breakthrough,"

Lucas rolled his eyes and gave a smirk, "Come on Lisa all of us are needing sleep, and you´re the lowest of all of us. The software can do its job without you here watching it, and it'll do none of us any good if you can't read whatever it puts out,"

She let out a sigh, he did have a point and a bed sounded so inviting, "All right fine, but I'm setting an alarm for 6 hours and I'd better not be the only one down here then,"

"Don't worry, only a six hour power nap and we'll be back on it," She could tell he was lying. She'd fall asleep and then he'd come in and turning off anything that would have the potential to wake her up. But at this point it was taking more effort to keep her eyes open than it was worth, so why not give into a long rest.

Standing up from her chair she walked over to the now dried up water canal and poured out the last of her coffee, before shuffling up the stairs towards the barracks her team had been assigned to. She took one last look back at the screen of falling text before ascending the stairs to a lack luster mattress.

* * *

Steven rode claimly on Lionś back. He could've warped home, but decided it'd be nicer to enjoy one of the last semi-warm days of the fall. The sun slowly began to dip below the waves lapping against the beach. Checking his phone he saw that it was 7:48. He would have to remember to look up what time it was in Libya when he got home and see if he could call John and the gems. He also realised that the Fry Shack closed soon. He have to hurry if he waited to get a bag of bits.

Steven stomach rumbled at the thought of the crispy, oily, salt covered nuggets of fatty flavor. He checked his pocket and saw he have enough to get a bag for Amethyst. He briefly thought of asking her if she wanted to go out as Puma and Tiger tonight, but quickly decided against the thought. He was actually pretty tired, despite not having done much in the way of anything to physically exhausting. Looking up he saw the boardwalk was just to their right, ¨Loin take a right here,¨

Loin gave a small snort and stopped at the intersection. Taking a second to check for traffic the feline turned and made his way towards the boardwalk. The ocean took on a beautiful streak of golden light, stretching towards the sand and beyond that the city. The light drifted through the tree red, yellow, and brown leaves and cast shadows through the branches that almost seemed to dance on the slowly wavering grass. The breeze picked up and Steven shivered. It was still to warm for his winter coat, but he should probably look into getting a new jacket for the coming October.

Loin stopped once the Fry Shack came within walking distance and Steven hopped off. The two made their way to the front. Pee Dee was working the front and Steven thought he could make out Ranaldo sitting in the back, "Hey Steven, you come for the bits?"

"You know it! Two orders of bits and…"Steven took a minute to look over the menu before he looked at Loin, "see anything you want bud?"

He yawed and smacked his lips, before approaching the sign and nuzzling the ice cream section. Steven nodded and pulled out a five and some change, "Two orders of bits and an ice cream cup, vanilla,"

"Alright that'll be…$4.16," Pee ee said. Steven handed him the five and dropped the change into the tip jar on the counter. The curly haired boy then turned, grabbing two paper bags and a metal slotted spoon, going to the back to fish the bits out of the bottom of the frier. Steven walked over to the benches and sat down to wait. He looked out over the beach again. It was perfect, until his eyes hit the rows of armoured vehicles and tan tents that lined the sand, stopping a few yards short of the boardwalk. He hadn't reminded them before, infact he had kinda though they looked cool. Before they had given the beach a new and different look, being a unique contrast to the temple and the city. But now they seemed foreign and uncanny. His eyes drifting over the rows of makeshift shelters, sandbags and vehicles, Steven saw a group of Marines huddled together around f a humvee, listening to a boombox on the hood. Two of them had bottles in their hands and a cardboard case was on the ground next to the trucks tires. He saw one of them say something and the others burst out laughing.

But Steven didn't focus on that. His eyes were drawn to the black rifles slung over two of their backs, and the end of a pistol sticking out of a holster. The space around them seemed darker, as though the light was being drawn into them. Steven felt the hair on his arms and neck begin to rise, and felt a small shiver go own his spine. Before the guns had been nothing more that another part of the Marines kit, just something they carried. But now there was an air of sinsterness about them, and as Steven looked to the faces of the Marines who wielded them he couldn't help feel the same air about them too. They smiled and laughed just like he di with the gems, Connie, or his Dad. ut there was something different now. Before they had been the same, protector of humanity, but now Steven didn't know what they were.

"Yo Steven!"

Steven jumped at the sound of Pee Dee's voice. He got up and walked over to the shack, grabbing the two paper bags with one hand and setting the cup of vanilla ice cream down on the ground with the other. He noticed that it had two packets of chopped peanuts sitting in with it, "I wasn't sure if he liked nuts, but they come with doggie cups"

"Oh, thanks," Steven said, tearing them open and sprinkling the content on to the frozen dairy, "Hey Pee Dee, what'd you think of the Marines?"

"Well Dad says their great for business, but their not the best tippers, and Ronaldo hasn't stopped going on about how their here to cover up the crashed ship and it's only a matter of time before they start pumping memory erasing chemicals into the water supply. They do have some crazy freaking stories, and one even let me hold his gun, so all in all their pretty cool," He said, handing Steven his change.

Steven dropped the coins into the tip jar, "That's cool, but I ment like what they do,"

"Oh, I dunno. I mean Dad talks sometimes about how things are dragging on in Iraq and the news was talking about how the Rusal Allah have been moving back into Afghanistan," Pee Dee said, leaning out the window.

"Wait you watch the news?" Steven said, somewhat surprised. He knew Pee Dee was pretty mature, but he couldn't even sit through the title sequence.

"Yeah, business here goes from packed to ghost town like that," Pee Dee said snapping his fingers, "and the 3 of th 5 channels gets are news,"

"What are the other two?"

"Something selling porcelain knick-knacks and something on the stock market,"

"Sounds boring,"

"They are,"

There was the rustle of a trash bag, and Steven turned to see Loin placing the now empty plastic ice cream cup in the trash, "How'd you teach him to do that?"

"I didn't, Lion just kinda knows things,"

"That's co-"

"IS THAT STEVEN!"

Ronaldo came running from the back, knocking over several boxes of condiment packets and cups. Pee Dee face became an annoyed scowl and he opened his mouth to reprimand his older brother, but the teen was already asking a myriad of questions so fast they were almost unintelligible, "Whatcanyouteelmeaboutwhatthe marinesaredoing? Havetheydoneanysecrettestingonyou? Doyouremember? Ifsowhatwasit?

"Ronaldo stop pestering Steven and help me pick this stuff up," Pee Dee said, dropping two handfuls of ketchup packets into a box.

"I'm not pestering, I'm doing valuable research!" the older boy protested, "Right Steven?"

"Actually Ronaldo I'm kinda tired and I don't want Amethyst's bits to get cold, I really should get going," Steven said, backing away from the counter.

"Ugh, fine," He said, throwing up his head and slouching his shoulders. Steven said goodnight and hopped on Lions back. The two made their way towards the house. Steven hopped off and made his way inside, holding the door open for Lion. The house was empty. Steven shrugged, Amethyst was probably in her room. He set the one of the bags of bits on the counter and walked over to the computer with the other. Signing in he clicked the google tab and checked the time in Libya. The page to a minute to load and Steven signed, disappointed seeing it was 2:10 in the morning there. Taking a another bit of bites he wiped off his hands and set an alarm for 11:00 tomorrow. John and the gems would be awake then and he could call and see how they were doing. He would have to remember to tell them to take pictures.

Tossing the last bit into his mouth he closed the browser and walked over to the fridge to get something to wash down the salt. Opening it he saw there was half a 2 liter of root beer left. Pulling it out he grabbed a cup and poured himself a glass. Guzzling it down he let out a satisfying "Aahhh,"

His phone buzzed in his pocket and he pulled it out. There was a new text from Ronaldo, and Steven couldn't help groan. Ronaldo was a nice guy, but he wasn't really feeling answering any questions about the Marines or what he and the gems had been doing with them. Partially because he wasn't sure if he could and partially because he wasn't sure what he thought about the Marines now and mainly because he was tired. The boys eyelids drooped and he yawned. Rubbing his eyes he got ready for bed.

Well not a night owl Steven did usually stay up later than 8. But now he didn't really care. His movements had begun to feel slow and sluggish, along with his mind. With teeth brushed, gem polished, and PJ's on he climbed into bed and soon fell asleep.

* * *

John scrapped the edge of the K-Bar one the flat surface of the wet stone. Back and forth, not slowly, but certainly not at a blistering speed. The edge gleaned in the lime green glow of the various small lights that dotted the interior of the truck. He stopped, removed one of his gloves, and checked the edge. He'd managed to work out most of the nicks, but the edge lacked the razor sharpness he was going for. Checking his watch he realised it would have to do for now. The sun would be up in a few hours and he wanted to be dug in for the morning. He didn't expect any hostile action, but better safe than sorry. He grabbed the black mic from it's holder and pressed the button on the side, "This is Hunter Actual, we're gonna hold up here for the day,"

The line of humvees came to a halt and the Marines disembarked. The drivers positioned them in a rough circle, while other Marines took out entrenching tools and began to dig fighting holes between the trucks. The two GGRCA agents approached the Captain.

"Is there anything we can do Captain?" one of them asked.

"Sure, Sgt. Reves!" John called out.

"Yessir!" Reves replied, setting down his M249 and making his way to the officer.

"Grab a P-77 and take the men in black here to cover our tracks about 500 meters back," John said. Reves nodded and went with the agents to find a radio operator. John then turned to the humvee and pulled off a gas can. Popping open the lid he began to refill the gas tank. The smell of diesel made his nose crinkle. He looked over to see Pearl and Garnet watching him, "If you wanna help go do the same with the others"

The two gems exchanged a quick look and then went off the refuel the other humvees. Within the hour the small patch of desert had been transformed into a acceptable defensive position. Well it did lack the sandbags and rocks that a more permanent position would have John had stressed that the whole thing needed to be able to be covered up in a matter of minutes. Parachutes were draped over the humvees and holes cut in the tops so that the turrets could still be accessed. Well up close the light gray stood out like a sore thumb from a distance the light gray would blend with the sand and break up the humvee's outline. John had the Marines set a double, dispersed line of claymores 10 meters in front of their fighting holes. Once Reeves and the GGRCA agents returned it was decided that John and the gems would take first watch, the gems for not needing sleep reasons and John because he had already had plenty. With rifles in their arms the other Marines soon fell asleep, exhaustion helping them to ignore the cold and the lack of mattresses.

John now leaned against the side of a humvee. Pearl and Garnet sat on its hood and roof, John watching the way they were going and the gems watching were they had come from. A lit cigar glowed in his mouth and he exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Why must you smoke those awful things?" Pearl said above him.

"They take the edge off, and their really not that bad. I mean this one has a lot more tobacco to pot, but that's cause we're in the field. Once we get home you should take a whiff of one of my stronger ones," John said, taking another pull.

"Oh I would just love that," Pearl said , her voice dripping with sarcasm, "I will never understand why you humans take it upon yourselves to rot your minds,"

"As I said, it takes the edge off. You really shouldn't knock it before you try it," John said, lifting the cigar up for her to grab, "Hell I'm not sure why you don't, it's not like you can get cancer...wait can you-"

"No and no I'm not trying that," Pearl said.

"You should open your mind more Pearl, after all these Marines witnessed us together and didn't bat an eye," Garnet said, plucking the cigar from Johns fingers. The fusion took a deep inhale and then let out a series of hard coughs, "Harsher *ack* than I *ahey ahey* thought it would be,"

John took the cigar back and offered Garnet his canten. The fusion thanked him and took a few long gulps before passing it back, considerably lighter, "I will admit, it does have a relaxing quality to it,"

"Exactly," John said, taking another pull. The sun had begun to rise, the horizon taking on a light purple hue. The stars hadn't been blotted out yet, and for those nearer to the light almost seemed some how brighter, "Well now isn't that pretty,"

"It certainly is," Pearl said, "Rose always did love the sun rise,"

"She certainly did," Garnet said, a tone of melancholy nostalgia in her voice.

"...I saw Rose in my dream," John said flatly.

"What!?" Pearl said in shock. The gem climbed off the roof of the humvee and sat in front of John, meeting his eyes. He noticed now they were a light blue, "On the ship, I had a dream were I was looking over Beach City. It looked like the 1950s or 60s. I was on the hill with the lighthouse and she was standing behind me,"

"What did you do? Did she say anything?" Pearl asked, almost frantically.

"Yeah, I asked who she was and why she was there. She was really cryptic, but I remember she told me to protect someone. She said, _protect them John_. There was this signing, I'm pretty sure it was Sapphire," John said, looking up at Garnet. The fusion had removed her visor and he could clearly see her three eyes staring at him with intensity, "Then it grew louder and louder and I woke up,"

"Are you sure it was Rose?" Pearl asked.

"Positive," John replied, looking back at the ivory gem.

Pearl sat there a moment, her chin in her hand and expression hardening. Soon the gem shook her head and looked at the sand, her eyes drifting from one grain to the next, "When Rose was alive she did have the ability to enter others dreams in a sort of telepathy. It was an ability seldom used for anything important and Rose really did so more to enjoy whatever you humans would dream of. Gems are capable of sleeping and producing dreams, but Rose always liked what your minds came up with more than her own. She never really liked to talk about her dreams, even with me. She said they were always about the war,"

"Well that's certainly relatable," John muttered.

"What?" Pearl asked.

"Nothing, so Rose could enter others dreams, but she's-"

"We're not really sure what Rose is," Garnet said, "We're-I'm pretty sure that she and Steven formed a perminate fusion, one that cannot be undone unless one of the two were to… _expire_ ,"

"And you're not going to test what would happen if one were to expire," John said, looking at his cigar. He rolled it between his forefinger and thumb before taking another puff and exhaling away from Pearl, "Would it be possible for her to reach out as a separate entity well she is fused?"

"Maybe, for once I'm not actually able to answer a question about fusion," Garnet said. She then snorted and laughed, "That's a first, anyway it does seem possible, although she would probably need a large amount of energy to do so. A fusion is the combination of one's mind, body, and soul with another and to separate even a small bit of yourself and keep the fusion intact would be… hard is an understatement,"

"Well that gives me… something. I don't think comfort is the right word, but I am at ease knowing that I didn't just create a pink alien gem lady with my own brain," John said, "You two really did care about her, didn't you?"

Pearl laughed, but it was a hollow, almost forced laugh. She then let out a deep sigh and looked up at the stars, "Care doesn't even begin to describe it,"

They then sat in silence, all contemplating what had been said for a few minutes. Pearl then stood and clambered back onto the humvee to resume her vigil. John finished the cigar, passing it to Garnet a few more times before finally snuffing the butt into the ground. Few words were spoken between the trio for the remainder of the night and the early morning. John's watch began to beep and he knew it was time to rotate senteries. He lifted himself up and walked over to one of the fighting holes, shaking awake SSgt. Wright and telling him he was up for watch. The Sargent nodded and pulled himself out of the hole. John plopped down and took his place. His eyes close and the world went dark.

* * *

 **Hey people! There's 19, finally out. I both like and dislike this one, mainly due to the last section with John. Well it was necessary to address the dream sequence with Rose the whole last bit kinda felt like filler. I should really start keeping notes on this because I have no idea what I was thinking of doing with that when I first started writing. Any how I'm already working on 20, though at the time of writing this chapter synopsis I've scraped and rewritten the next chapter twice already so yeah.**

 **I also have some news, not sure if it's good or bad I'll leave that to you, but for the past few days a few ideas for new fanfics have been bouncing around in my head. Three of them are basically the same thing but in different universes. I'm thinking a series of one shots, or 2-3 chapter arches focused on random gems during the rebellion both from the rebel and homeworld perspective. Then basically the same thing but for the war that predates the current story in RWBY and something in Star Wars (the Clone Wars era would be the easiest but I feel like it might be a tad overdone). There's also one that I've had that would really just be for my sanity and any history nerds who are reading this story. Basically just a synopsis of human gem history, what countries exist, what empires have risen and fallen, so on and so forth. However my main fear with starting any of them is that it would pull more attention from this story which is already done by me just not wanting to write or needing to do something else.**

 **Also I want to put forth my whole rationale on why Steven doesn't know about human warfare and why he's having the reactions he is. First I never really had the hard, emotional realization that the world is a lot darker than it seems that we got in** _ **Full Disclosure.**_ **Sure there was the little scene with Steven and Connie on her front porch, but I really wanted something a bit more. Second really take a moment to think about what warfare is, and I mean actually think about it. It's dark, a bloody, and bleak, and I get the feeling that most people born post Vietnam don't really have the same understanding of what warfare is that older generations did. (For those who live in America and are reading this think about the last time you were directly affected by the fact the the US is currently at war with the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and ISIL in three different countries beyond having a relative in the armed forces.) Now with the thought of what warfare is in mind do you really think that the gems or Greg (Who, before Connie, were Steven's only source of real education.) would actually tell Steven about such things? Do you think Rose would want him to know such things exist? I mean even in season 4, after all the stuff with the cluster, Jasper, and Malachite the gems weren't even the ones to tell Steven that Rose shattered Pink Diamond. (Which on a side note she totally did using her sword. The blade might not be able to cut a gem, but you sure as heck could smash one with the pommel.) Third Steven's reaction to war between humans it building to one of many themes I've been trying to address in this story, this one being the loss of innocence due to conflict. In the past few chapters I kinda feel I've been beating you guys over the head with this theme and am trying to take a more nuanced approach to it but as far as I can tell no one has caught on so yeah.**

 **With that I bid you all a good day and hope to be posting more quietly. Please leave any comment, critiques, suggestions, or otherwise in the reviews and I will see you later.**


	21. Chapter 20 The Things They Carried

**Real quick announcement for the canon of this fanfic. Spoilers for the show ahead, you have been warned: with the most recent reveal of Rose actually being Pink Diamond in the show I will not doing that for this fan-fic. It messes with a lot of things I have in the works and for me personally the reveal seemed… cheap isn't the right word but the closest. Anyhow enough of that, on to chapter 20.**

 **Chapter Twenty**

 **The Things They Carried**

Burning

Steven opened his eyes to see that everything was burning. The long tongues of flame reached up the walls around him, consuming everything in their path. He rolled to the side to avoid a falling ceiling tile. It hit the carpet next him him with a loud _Wooph_ , extinguishing the flames that had covered it's underside. Looking away from the tile of drywall that had nearly hit him, he say rows of cubicles, some nearly ash. There was a pop, followed by another, and another. Steven looked up to see the florescent lights bursting under the heat. Scrambling backwards he felt his hand hit something. Looking down he saw another hand, lying fingers splayed outwards, as though reaching for something. The arm came from behind the wall of a cubicle and was dressed in a tan camouflage. Steven looked in the direction the hand pointed towards and saw a door.

"Why…wh-" a voice came weakly from behind the wall followed by a series of rough coughs. Steven pushed himself to his feet and ran to the persons aid. A desk a pinned them, it's metal legs having sunk into the floor. Pieces of burning tile and shards of glass covered his back. Steven quickly brushed the debris off the man and ran to unpin his feet. His face was covered in bandages and when Steven got to the back of the desk he saw only one leg was pinned, the other ending just below the knee. It too was bandaged. Steven lifted the desk, and pushed the man out from under. He then lifted him onto his shoulders, or tired to. The man's body seem to weigh a ton, and Steven was forced to drag him. The section of the floor where the man had just been suddenly fell through. Steven heard a loud crash and a scream. More flames shot up the new hole, hungrily devouring everything they touched.

"Why did you leave us?" The man spoke, his voice ragged and harsh. Steven ignored him and continued to pull his body towards the door. He forced it open, having to use both hands to pull the door free. The handle was burning, and he could feel the blisters forming on his palms and fingers. A cloud of smoke come billowing out, causing his eyes and throat to burn. Taking a few seconds to cough and let the smoke clear he looked to see a concrete stairwell, each step coated in flames that smelled like car exhaust. Looking around frantically for another way out he spotted a large window. He reached for the man, only to grasp nothing but air. Looking down he saw the body was gone. Shaking his head Steven sprinted to the window. He bashed it a few times before it shattered. Looking down he saw he was only two stories up, the ground below being hard asphalt.

Steven took a deep breath and jumped, forming a bubble around himself as he fell. Or so he tried. Instead of a protective barrier forming around him and absorbing the shock, his body did. The wind was knocked out of him, and although covered in burns and scrapes he was shocked that nothing felt broken. Pushing himself up he looked around. He was in the parking lot of an office building, surrounded on all sides by a chain link fence topped with barbed wire. Just outside the fence was a swarming mob of people and beyond them a city bathed in fire. The smoke rose into the sky, blotting out the light and turning the horizon into an apocalyptic red. Many of the people had faces covered with masks or wrapped cloth, but those who did not simply had shifting shadows in place of features. Some pushed against the fence, but most moved to the right. Many of them carried sticks, or chains, or other blunt objects. Steven ran around the side of the building to see the parking lot open up. At its center was a mass of people, surrounding something. Steven could hear yelling coming from the middle. He moved closer to investigate.

"Is that all you got! Is that the best you can fucking do!" someone screamed from the mob. The people jeered back, or Steven thought they did. They spoke a language Steven had never heard before, but all of them sounded angry. Some threw things into the middle, well others simply shouted and raised their fists. Steven began to pull the people away from whoever was in the middle, trying to reach them. The bodies were packed together like sardines, and each one almost seemed rooted to the ground. Try as he might Steven couldn't pull them away, so he did the next best thing and pushed himself in. This however proved just as hard. Some would push him back, others simply packed themselves together like a human wall. Steven was about to form his shield and try bashing his way through when suddenly the crowd changed. They quited themselves, lowering their voices. They now spoke in low, hushed tones and Steven couldn't hear the person in the center. The people began to move back, and Steven managed to see they were making a opening for someone coming out of the building.

It was a man, tall, with olive skin and a clean shave face. Several small scars lined his left cheek and lower jaw. He wore a dark green uniform and a red beret. A cigar stuck out of the corner of his mouth and he removed it to let out a cloud of smoke. A smile spread across his face, and although it seemed genuine Steven had never felt more uneasy. The man dropped the cigar and sniffed it out under his boot. He then strode forward with a confidence akin to a predator in their environment. A tiger in _thier_ jungle. His eyes were cold, calculating, and they had a sadism about them Steven had only seen once before. They reminded him all to much of Jasper. He could feel the hair that remained begin to rise. Despite the constant crackle of the fire the clack of the hard rubber soles on the black top split through any other sound like an axe. Although it had to have been less than thirty seconds for the man to walk from the building to the crowd's center it seemed to stretch into erity, each step being punctuated by the hard click-clack.

Finally the man was swallowed by the crowd. Steven pushed his way out and tired to run to the clearing that had been formed for him. The mob had closed back around, but there was now enough of a gap that Steven could push his way through. He saw the man squatting in front of someone. He could hear him speaking, but was still to far off to make out the words. In front of him was another man, his clothing in tatters and his arms and legs covered in bruises and cuts. Steven could see that he was being held down on either side by two of the faceless people. His arms were slack, only to suddenly go taught as he began to struggle against those who held him.

"You fucking bastard! You took everything from me!" He screamed. Steven pushed closer, trying to see his face, trying to help him. He finally got close enough to hear what the man in dark green was saying. He spoke with an slight accent that Steven couldn't place, but beyond that his english was perfect. His voice was soft and deep, like the purr of a small cat.

"Oh Captain you still lie to yourself. I never ordered you here. I never told your Marines you would be staying. I never asked you for anything but simple information," The man in green said. Suddenly the world began to shift. The city faded, the sky turned to the roof of a magnificent house. The man in green was now on his side, appearing to cower, now dressed in some sort of nightgown, "And I begged you to stop,"

The man whose clothes had been ragged and torn were now replaces with black cargo pants, a t-shirt, and a vest holding various magazines and other equipment was on his chest. A ski mask covered his face. In his right hand was a large knife, it's point dripping blood. His breathing was slow, but each breath was deep, the vest rising and falling noticeably. Steven saw his jaw harden and he began to kick the man, his boot slamming into his ribs, "I lie to myself! You beat me, denied me food and water, turned my skin into a cutting board! You! Got! Everything! Coming! Too! You!

"Stop!" Steven shouted, reaching out to the masked person.

His foot stopped mid swing and the masked man looked up. His eyes locked with Steven's and he felt his blood freeze. For a second there was nothing in them but a pure, rage fueled, hatred, the light in the room reflecting off the ice blue irises. They reflected like polished steel and seemed as though they were trying to dissect the boy down to the atom. They then softened and took on a confused look, "Steven?"

* * *

Steven shot up in his bed. He sucked in air like he had been holding his head under water for hours. His body was cold and when his hand went to his chest his heart was almost unnaturally slow. He took a few seconds to look himself over, let his breathing clam, and his heart rate get back to normal before he looked around at his surroundings. His was in the house, in his bed. It was morning, but late. Looking at his alarm clock it read 11:34. He blinked a few times trying to make sense of what had happened. He couldn't. Steven had never had a dream like that. Nightmares sure, but that...that wasn't his dream.

Steven didn't know whose it was, but it wasn't his. He pulled himself out of bed and grabbed a towel. He made his way to the bathroom, used the toilet, and then hopped in the shower. It was definitely someone else's dream and the more he thought about it the more he felt whoever it was this wasn't the first time they had it. It felt too rehearsed, to one thing after another. Even under the warm water he couldn't help but shiver, remembering the look in the masked man's eyes. They lacked the burning anger that Steven would expected, given how he had spoken to and acted towards the olive skinned man. No that was what disturbed Steven most out of all of it. Where in Jasper's eyes, the only others he had to compare to, there had been a smoderning, burning, lustful hatred the masked man's eyes seem hard and flat. Devoid of the anger that was so often associated with such strong emotions of contempt. Rather they seemed to posses a hollow, saddened, but ever real hatred of the olive skinned man. As though taking out whatever anger on the olive skinned man hurt him just as much.

The water had begun to turn cold, so Steven shut it off and wrapped himself in the towel. Stepping out he grabbed a change of clothes and got dressed, throwing on his same red shirt and blue jeans. Taking a second to yawn and stretch he went to the kitchen and readied breakfast. As he was pouring a bowl of cereal he heard the temple open and Amethyst step out, "Morning Ste-man, you slept late,"

Yeah, I guess I kinda did," Steven said, putting the milk back in the fridge and grabbing two eggs. He grabbed a pan and placed it on the burner.

"Hey thanks for grabbing me a bag of bits yesterday man. They really hit the spot," She said, taking a seat at the counter, "Whatcha cookin?"

"Something with eggs, I dunno maybe scrambled?" Steven said, shrugging and reopening the fridge to grab a half an onion and a bag of shredded cheddar, "You want some?"

"Naw, I just finished half a tire. Although if you want a recommendation I'd throw some hot sauce in there," Amethyst replied, tracing her finger across the counter.

"Yeah maybe, I'm not feeling anything to spicy though," Steven said, having finished his cereal. He placed the bowl in the sink and went over to the counter. He turned the stove on allowing the pan to heat up well he grabbed a knife from the cutting block and began to dice the onion into bits. Taking the knife he then cut off a thick slice of butter and dropped it into the pan. The pan was now scalding hot and once he dropped a piece of butter into it he flinched a little as is sizzled and popped due to the heat. Cracking open both eggs he dropped them in to the pan and grabbed a whisk. He began to beat the egg whites and yoke together until he got a nice even consistency. He then reach over to the bag of cheese and cut up onion, dropping heavy amounts of both into the eggs. He then opened the cupboard above him and grabbed some thyme, rosemary, season salt, and black pepper. After adding a far amount of each to the eggs he grabbed a plate and slide the lump of buttery, cheesy goodness onto it. He turned and placed it in the counter.

"Are you sure you don't want any? I can make more well the pan is still hot," Steven said, noticing Amethyst eyeing the eggs hungrily.

"Well if you insist," Amethyst said, sliding the plate over to her with her finger. Before Steven could protest the whole plate had already disappeared and Amethyst let out a loud burp. Seven let out a small sigh and went about making another batch. Well he watched the eggs sizzle and crackle under the heat he couldn't help but think back to the burning building. Back to the injured man who'd been inside, " _Why did you leave us?_ "

He shuddered remembering the lack of hope in his voice. Turning the burner off and setting the eggs onto his plate again he suddenly didn't have an appetite. But Pearl had always taught him the breakfast was the most important meal and the eggs did smell good, "Amethyst?"

"Yeah?"

"I had this dream last night," Steven went through what had happened between bites of egg, describing everything as best he could, although some things were now fuzzy in his mind. When he was done he saw Amethyst's expression was a mix of fascination and, to his dismay, horror, "So what do you think it means?"

"I don't know man, but whatever it was it's certainly several words I can't say around you," She said, looking again at the counter. Tracing the lines in the imitation granite the two sat across for each other in silence for a few seconds before the purple gem spoke, "Look, Steven, I'm not really good with these things. I can only really tell you that… I don't really know what to tell you. I wish Pearl was here, she was always good with stuff like this with Rose,"

"Wait mom had dreams like this?" Steven asked shocked.

"I don't know, I just know that some days she'd say she hadn't slept well. Her usually happy go lucky sorta self was replaced by this real downer, just like air, ya know. Like you'd be around her and you could feel she'd dreamt something that upset her," Amethyst explained. The two sat again in silence before she spoke up, "Hey if you want I got some cash left over from our last match. We could go to Funland and get your mind off it,"

Steven smiled, it'd been a while scine he'd been to Funland and he was sure that he could convince Mr. Slimely to let him in just for the day, "Yeah, that'd be great. Just let me clean up from breakfast,"

"Pffbt," Amethyst said, waving her hand, "Just leave it till later, I've been waiting all day for you to wake up so we could do something fun,"

Steven looked at his plate and then at the stove. The mess wasn't to bad, and if he left the pan in the sink to soak he would at least be kind of cleaning. With a shrug he threw the stuff in, ran some water and walked outside with Amethyst to find something fun to do.

* * *

John awoke with a start. He had to blink a few times before his eyes adjusted to the light. It took a few seconds for his brain to pull itself back into the real world, but it came back to him. His dream still lingered in his mind, the familiar night terror still causing his hairs to rise. He knew something had been off about it, but for some reason it escaped him. Someone had been there, or maybe something was different. The more he tired to concentrate on it the more the dream faded into blurry memory.

Rising up he placed his hands on either side of his back and pushed, feeling a satisfying series of cracks go up his spine. Reaching down he moved Cpl. Lennard's legs aside to grab his M4. Slinging the carbine over his shoulder he looked around and took note of who was where and doing what. Clp. Folly and the GGRCA operatives were eating their MREs on the hood of one of the humvees, well SSgt. Wright and Sgt. Reves were cleaning their respective weapons. The gems were conversing with Pfc. Davids and Clp. Braswell. The Corporal seemed to be explaining the workings of the M2 heavy machine gun mounted to the humvee whose side faced the direction they were heading. Everyone else was asleep, or conversing in their fighting holes.

John felt his stomach rumble and figured now would be a good time to get breakfast sorted. Hefting himself out of the fighting hole John walked over to the humvee were Clp. Folly and the GGRCA operatives were eating.

"Afternoon Captain, come to have a bite?" Folly asked, taking another bite of her beef ravioli.

"Yes actually," John said, opening the door and grabbing an MRE from his rucksack. The package read: MENU 9 HASHBROWN WITH BACON. John shrugged, well certainly not the chilly mac, the hashbrowns weren't the worst thing to get. They were certainly better than most of the vegetarian offerings.

Ripping open the bag John pulled out the knock off brown sugar poptart, sack bread, peanut butter, and cocoa powder. Opening the poptart first he took a bite of the processed wheat flour and imitation brown sugar. It was about as devoid of moisture as the desert around him. Taking a drink from his canteen to wash down the poptart, John looked at the cocoa powder and grimaced.

"Hey I'll trade a hot cocoa packet for some coffee," John said, holding up the packet. One of the GGRCA operatives slid over a packet of instant coffee crystals. John thanked him and slid over the cocoa powder. Reaching back into his rucksack he grabbed a small water bottle and poured in the crystals. Taking a minute to shake them up John reopened the bottle and took two large gulps, "Ahhhh,"

"I will never know how you manage to stomach that stuff cold or without sweetener," Folly said with a look of disdain.

"It doesn't need to taste good, just needs to wake me up," John said, washing down more poptart with the cold coffee. He opened up the hashbrowns and took a bite. The dried potatoes, peppers, onions, and bacon were little more than a mix of greasy starch paste that almost required tobasco to stomach. Luckily the MRE did come with a small bottle, which John used to excess. He was positive he'd regret it later.

"So Captain," The GGRCA operative to Folly's left spoke. His name patch read _SGM Buckley_ and his uniform was a mix of light and dark grays and black. His hair was a fiery orange-red, with mutton chops to complete the look, "What exactly is the game plan once we get back to Beach City?"

"First and foremost is an inventory on all of our comms equipment and then a briefing to bring us up to speed on the happenings well we've been gone," John said, taking another bite.

"Alright, we'll be sure to catch Townsen on what all will have occurred during our recce. Be aware he will want to talk to you about the method in which the hub was disabled,"John's plastic fork stopped halfway to his mouth. He closed it and looked up to meet the Sergeant Major's eyes. His whole face bled smug prick.

"I'm sure he'll be very interested to hear what all has happened," John said, placing the bite of food in his mouth.

"You know this proves it right," The other operative said. His name patch said _Clp. Blank._ He was shorter than the other operative, his hair a dark brown and face clean shaven.

"Proves what exactly?" Folly said, setting down her MRE.

"Oh, you know, just that this job is clearly way out of the league of some backcountry spec ops wanna be's," He said, with a smug satisfaction, "I mean it was a good try and all, but if this doesn't prove you don't have control of the gems I don't know what does,"

"Look around," John said, causing the Clp's eyebrow to raise, "Well go on, look around. Tell me wait you see."

"Sand and rocks, what's your point?" He asked, somewhat wary.

"That's right, rocks… and sand," John said, taking a deep breath and letting out a long, satisfying sigh, "Nothing but rocks, and sand for miles. Hell hundreds, or maybe even thousands of miles. It sure would be a shame to wake up one morning and find that we'd forgotten you,"

The Corporal's smug demeanor quickly vanished once he caught on John was only half joking. They could pull up and leave these two to walk to the next camp, location. They'd have enough water on them to last the day.

"Sorry for my college, I'm certain that you are quite capable individuals, but this incident is going to make it easier for General Malcolm to get the board to make this a GGRCA only operation," Buckley said, trying to defuse the situation. John kept his gaze locked with the Corporal's for a few seconds more before shrugging his shoulders and peering off into the distance well he finished his late breakfast. The sun would be down soon and it wouldn't be a bad idea to start packing things up to move.

He looked over at the gems. Pearl now sat in the gunners cupal, the M2 having been unloaded and Clp. Braswell was pointing into the now open loading port. Garnet and Pfc. Davids were talking back and forth on the humvee's hood. The Private then doubled over laughing at something the fusion said and John saw a small smile turn into a giggle from the gem. The GGRCA guys did have a point, this was far from the Marines normal operating standards. But they were MARSOC Raiders, they were supposed to adapt and so far it looked like his Marines had. He wasn't about to let all that work integrating the gems with his Marines go to waste and certainly not so some hush-hush shadow operation could get thier hands on them. And well still not complete trusting them, the gems and Steven had grown on the Captain, and he realized for the first time his reasons for not wanting to lose them went beyond strategy and vengeance.

His eyes narrowed thinking back to the beach. Six more Marines careers and lives cut short by a force that had no business on this Earth. Six more families, broken and mourning the loss of their son or daughter. Six more bodies laid to rest because he couldn't. Couldn't be fast enough, couldn't plan well, enough, couldn't be there to take the hit instead. Once again one person solely responsible for thier deaths. One person he was not going to let get away.

* * *

A dull, far off, voice and several shakes to her shoulder roused Dr. Keter. She looked up to see Lucas standing over her holding a plate, "Rise and shine sleepy head. I grabbed some french fries and a beef patty from the mess hall, oh and a cup of black tea,"

Lisa smiled, Lucas was one of the few people to remember that well she drank coffee, she did not actually enjoy it. Without cream and sugar it was so bitter and acidic that she could barely stomach it, and with it she almost felt she was destroying the flavor of the beans. Tea on the other hand could be drunk straight and enjoyed. She placed the plate on the fold up plastic table next to her cot.

"Thank you Lucas," She said, taking to long slips from the tea. It was just hot enough to wake her up, but not scorch her mouth, "Have there been any new developments well we were sleeping?"

"Yes and no, the deciphering software did manage to put out something in english, but only a few short sentences and some numbers. Then it crashed. The team's trying to reboot it but, I think you should look at what it managed to pull first," Lucas said, pulling a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. Lisa placed on her reading glasses, funnily enough having been far sighted despite he line of work. The sentences were clearly pulled from several different documents, the most cohesive reading; " _Once a landing zone is found and made sure that no threats are in the nearby Error the group is to make its way to the prime growth center. Once having arrived the group will find station Error and check progress of-"_

It was not these words that interested the Luxocreologist. Rather it was the series of numbers that were below them. They were definitely incomplete, but without a doubt they were a series of coordinates for something well outside of the U.S. Lisa could feel the hair on her body rising as she looked the numbers over and over again. She'd have to reboot the software to get the whole string and be doubly sure, but the only gem location she could think of that fit these coordinates was in what was once the siberian tundra. Roughly 5,000 years ago the tundra had been cleared to burny something in the Earth. The size of whatever it was it was massive, given that 78% of the siberian forests and plains ceased existing.

"Lucas who do we talk to?" Lisa said, trying to keep a calm composer, but the excitement was already beginning to boil over.

"I'm sorry Doctor I don't-"

"THE PERSON WE TELL STUFF! WHO IS IT?" Lisa almost shouted, her excitement boiling over. So long had she and so many others wondered what was under the hole in the Russian landscape and now she had the ability to find out.

"Uh, a Col. Davis I believe," Lucas said, somewhat uncertain.

"Then get him on the phone, or email him, or just find him and tell him we've got something!" Lisa said, jumping up in her t-shirt and shorts. The doctor pushed past Lucas and ran down to the makeshift lab, desperately wanting to get the deciphering software up and running so they could be sutre of their discovery. Lucas ran behind her, plate of food in hand. The drowsiness of the past few days was now replaced with an new, eager vigor.

* * *

Connie ran inside and threw her backpack into her room. She then opened her dresser and got changed, replacing her skirt and leggings with blue jeans and her shirt for a more beat up yellow t-shirt. She then opened her sock drawer and pulled out the books Sargent King had given her. She took a quick moment to look over them. The sides were overflowing with sticking notes, marking where she'd made annotations. Her heart beat hard against her rib cage in anticipation of the coming training match. The collection of training manuals, memoirs, and historical analysis of fighting styles had given her a lot to consider when trying to figure what today's match would be. Taking a second to trade her nice red shoes for a pair of tennis shoes, she closed and locked the front door behind her, texting her mom to tell her that she was going to hang out with Steven.

Connie didn't like lying to her mother, but she knew there was no possible way that her mother would let her do this. She'd tried broaching the subject covertly with her, bringing up various fake articles about martial arts classes doing things similar to what she did or anecdotes from the Marines around town. Everytime they would be met with hundreds of reasons why such things were dangerous, idiotic, or how there were other things that a bright young lady like herself could focus on. To say the lack of support for an endeavour she was ready to throw herself into fully hurt would be an understatement, but she could atleast see that her mother wasn't entirely unreasonable.

Connie's hand drifted to her shoulder where the holo-pearl's sword had cut weeks before. A chill went up her spine at the memory of the event, " _It'd been so very close to-"_

Connie shook the thought from her head. John and Pearl had both taught her that one of the most detrimental things to do before combat was to work yourself up over things you had no control over. It took the mind off of your opponent, and even if it was only being done by your sub-conscience. She took a deep breath and began to cycle through the various fighting stances until the beach came into view, and with it the familiar and welcome sight of a certain curly haired boy and his purple friend.

"Steven!" Connie called out excitedly, breaking into a jog to catch up with the pair. There arms were laiden with all sorts of prizes and food from Funland. Steven nearly dropped an oversized green and blue stuffed dragon as he turned around to greet his friend.

"Connie, hey!" He said, setting the dragon down to give her a hug. Amethyst gave her a two finger salute, her mouth being full of popcorn and several somethings, "Did you just get out of school?"

"Yeah, I'm heading to the company command tent to talk to John's first sergeant about my first day of training without John or Pearl around," Connie said, showing Steven the books in her hand.

"Oh, that's cool. Amethyst and I were just going back to the house to drop this stuff off and then hangout, but I can come watch if you want," Steven said, hefting the dragon up again.

"Okay, I'll ask Sargent King if that's alright," Connie said, turning to make her way towards the command tent. She got a little lost in the rows of humvees and other armoured vehicles that lined that section of the beach and eventually had to ask for directions from a very tired and confused looking Marine. Finally having made it to the command tent her heart rate picked up again. Connie had gotten the feeling that King was doing this because he was John's friend and subordinate, and not because he actually had a vested interest in her training. Taking a deep breath and a few moments to go over the proper greetings she pushed aside the flap and entered.

Immediately several sets of eyes were upon her, and Connie began to feel a sense of uneasy that hadn't surfaced since Stevonnie had danced. It was a few seconds before anyone said anything, but finally one of the Marines sitting in front of a computer asked, "You Connie?"

He was wearing a plain black t-shirt with the Marine Corps logo on it and there were no rank markings on the rest of him so Connie was unsure with what marker she should respond. After a few seconds of awkward silence she simply responded, "Yes, t-that's me,"

"First Sergeant is in the back, on the other side of the cork board wall," He said and then turned to a Marine next to him, "Alright Chuck, you own me 20 bucks. I told you the kid was gonna show up,"

"Oh bite me," The other said, fishing his wallet out of his pocket. Connie gave the Marine who'd given her the directions a nod of thanks, and made her way to the back. She found the corkboard wall and behind it was First Sergeant King, surrounded on both sides by several other Marines. Connie quickly identified the lieutenant's bars on three of their shoulders and that a group of three wore different uniforms to the other Marines. It was the officer in between them that looked up and saw Connie first.

"It appears the Captains side project has arrived First Sergeant," He said, bumping King's shoulder. The Sargent looked up at Connie, his face a mix of confusion and minor annoyance. He let out a small sigh and made his way over to the girl.

"I thought I said not to bother me until you'd finished those books," He said, in a tone very similar to the one her father used when she'd gotten in trouble.

"I did Gunnery Sergeant. I've read through One Mind, Any Weapon twice and am one my third reread of the Marine Corps Close Combat Guide. I've also completely memorized The Do's and Don'ts of Basic to front, but I'm still working on the back," Connie said, handing the man her annotated books, "That last one was a joke Sargent,"

"I figured," He said, flipping through the books to look at her annotations. He would move a few pages, read what was written on the sticky note and then move onto another section, "Your still in school right?"

"Yes, but we get out for fall break next week and then Thanksgiving in another month or so," She said, looking around the room. The walls were lined with maps from all over the globe, the one that everyone seemed most focused on being a map of Libya laid out on the table they all stood around. There was a line of green string and several lines of red string held into the map by thumb tacks. She guessed the green string was John's current route and the red was Peridot's estimated routes.

"Alright," King said, snapping her attention back to the large man. He'd walked to the back of the section of the tent and grabbed a pile of stuff. Handing it to her he said,"I'll be out in ten-fifteen minutes tops. Have yourself suited up and ready to demonstrate what you've learned so far when I get there,"

"Yes Sargent," Connie said, trying to hold the stuff and render a salute at the same time.

"Don't bother with the formalities kid, just go get suited up," King said, turning back to the table of Marines and other operatives, "Alright gentlemen let's wrap this up,"

"Oh Sargent, before I forget is it alright if Steven watches our training session?" Connie asked, about to leave.

"Uh, what, Oh yeeeah...yeah that's fine," King said, taking a few second to think.

Connie left the tent and went outside to inspect the stuff she'd been given. There was the normal protective shoulder, chests and head pads that she'd worn before well bayonet training with John and a dummy M4. These weren't what interested. Now it was the set of dummy pistols and 4 different knives that she'd been handed. The knife's ranged from the standard issue M9 bayonet, to what could easily be considered a machete with a curve to the blade, a punch dagger, and a small boot knife. Today's train session and the ones to come ere going to be fun.

* * *

 **And 20, wow I knew this day would come, but.. I just don't know. It's kinda cool to have done t20 chapters of what was basically a cool headcanon sorta thing. Any how hope you liked it, I certainly did. The last scene with Connie was… I dunno. I can't place it but something about that bit just doesn't fit with me. As for the beginning bit were I announced I wouldn't be doing the whole PD=Rose thing I hope that doesn't upset anybody to much, but yeah that just messes with a lot of stuff in how I've wanted to take this story. Alnd man I really did shove my foot in my mouth saying Rose totally shattered PD. But yeah not only does it present problems to the story, but I have a host of personal problems with it. SO to be clear for the canon of this story Rose shatters Pink Diamond. We clear on that? Good!**

 **Next thing, I've recently been considering going back a rewriting a few of the beginning chapters. Not changing anything in broad strokes, but adding more detail and better character development. Like I'm pretty sure the fight between Jasper and John was less than a page. This would also allow me to fix the host of grammatical errors that are just everywhere. Like there's soooooo many words spelled wrong and run on sentences and other thing that my english teacher of a mother would wring my neck for.**

 **Another chang coming, I'm almost certain I'm going to have to change the rating of this story. The beginning of this chapter is probably the darkest and most vulgar I've gone so far and it's only going to go deeper. I really would like to keep this teen as to not restrict my audience, but I also don't want to risk getting taken down. Oh, and speaking of that beginning since, I'm sure a few of you noticed it was a dream sequence lacking the italic font. That's because from here on out I won't be using it for dream sequences. First person thoughts yes, but dream and other similar things no. The reason is that later on there will be moments where characters won't know what is and is not real and I would kinda like to keep the audience in the same boat.**

 **Lastly I didn't get much of anything one way or the other on the other fanfics I purposed (although a guest account commented "Yes, Yes, Yes!" I think an exclamation mark was there) so I'll put them out there again. Seriously input is greatly valued: A fanfic that would be a series of one shots and short stories in the SU universe during the gem war, in RWBY during their great war, and in Star Wars probably during the Old Republic days or the Clone Wars. These stories would feature mostly OCs and very little of the main character of these respective works of fiction. I would like to do any or all of them, but not without there being a real calling for them. The next one would be a prequel esque fanfic to this one, basically what the condition of the human world was before homeworld got there, how they reacted, and how it is now. It would also be mostly a series of oneshots and short stories and honestly mostly written for my sanity. If any or all of these sound like something you'd read PLEASE SAY SO!**

 **Like I can't make this any more clear, please voice your opinions about my writing. I don't care if your mean, just give me something to work with. Seriously say my writing is terrible if you think so, but say why. I cannot improve without criticism. Those of you who review regularly, Vendicor, nyanyanya22, OMAC001, TheVeryCritic, linusatari, xXBlackBurnXx, and anyone else I forgot (Really sorry, if I did) thank you, really. Like I know this it the thing that everyone says, but it means A LOT. So please leave any comments, question, critiques, or otherwise in the reviews. See you guys soon.**


	22. UPDATE

Heyo people! It has been about two months since any activity on this fanfic and a month since I've been active on this site at all. What's been happening?!

I have been hard at work on a new fanfic, _When The Stars Fell_. It's the same universe as this one, but from the perspective of many different characters (mostly OC's) spanning from 6000~ years ago to just before (maybe just after) Steven is born. Currently one chapter is up and the second on it's way. However both it, and the current chapter for _Old War, New Battles_ require considerably more research. More in the sense of how certain cultures interacted and how they might be if they never had. With both of these stories I've become far more interested in the human element and how to properly represent that. The show hasn't really given this area much representation, heck the only real looks at human society outside of Beach city is that people in New Jersey are still assholes, that New York never left the 1920s, and that Hollywood is in Kansas. Like here's something to consider, with the fact the most of Mongolia is under the Siberian Sea the Mongol Empire probably wouldn't exist. The largest, continuous, land empire in human history just doesn't exist. Also I may have way over estimated the amount of Siberian missing, it's closer to 40-50%. Not to mention that the next chapter of John and the gems adventures is going to start dealing with how the nations of the world are going to deal with this threat. I honestly cannot say when I will be posting. The next chapter I making a long one, going on 13 pages now and there's also _When The Stars Fell_ (shameless plug is shameless) who's second chapter I've almost finished. It should be coming out sometime tonight or tomorrow and Hopefully I can get 21 of _Old War, New Battles_ out in the week.

Second thing.

I figured I should maybe give my thoughts on the most recent Steven Universe episodes. I liked them...I loved them, They reminded me of why I started watching this show in the first place, as a fun, childish escape to a place of gay, magical, rock women. Seriously, Ruby and Sapphire's wedding was adorable and did like Bismuth's reintroduction. It seemed...natural. Peridot has just gotten better, and better as a character and Lapis returned! YAHHH!

However...

I called it, I knew that once they made Rose=Pink Diamond and thus Steven=Pink Diamond that they were going to pull some "We're family, stop the fighting, we all love each other" stuff. No heart breaking speech about the loss of a loved one, for a war that is now made some what hollow do to the fact that is was caused by the childish demand and dreams of someone who should have been given far more supervision, and directed much more carefully and closely. Why did no one notice some random _BRIGHT PINK_ quartz just warp in with a really fancy pearl. Are there no gems like Peridots monitoring the gems that come out, how many of them there are, where they came from, and where they're going? Why is all so quickly forgiven? We don't have any clue how old Sapphire is, she could be thousands, or even tens of thousands of years old. The 6,000~ she's spent with Ruby would not only be a fleeting second in a near infinite lifetime, but would also be a massive break to a societal structure that she had been apart of for most of her life. And all because of the childish, and over zealous decisions of an inexperienced leader.

Also, the cluster just being chill when it popped seemed really... I don't know. It's just that they built up how dangerous and devastating it would be if the cluster formed, and then it does and arm wrestles a ship, and then just goes back into the ground. Like...what? Weren't we talking about how this thing would literally rip the planet in half if it formed, and then it does and everything is fine.

The fact that everyone on the Crystal gems side is just chill with the Diamonds and vice versa. Hello! A thousand year war was fought! Hundreds of thousands or even millions of gems shattered or corrupted. And it's all just forgiven. Just dropped.

However again...

White Diamonds introduction was... truly alien. It was something that my mind could have constructed, but yet so very foreign. Her expression went beyond the uncanny valley. The way she spoke, not seeming to have a single care about what had even occurred in the world around her. As if existence itself was beneath her, or maybe beyond her. She seems so undisturbed by things that it almost makes me wonder if this has happened before. That and the fact that she says "Your latest game".

All in all I do like were the show is going, I just wish it had gone in a different direction.

So there's the little update,\ and by the way I'll be deleting this chapter once I put out chapter two of _When The Stars Fell_.

See you soon


	23. A farwell, though maybe not final

So this has been a long time coming. For the foreseeable future I will not be posting, writing, or really doing much of anything with either of my stories, Steven Universe, or this site. A number of things have come up in my personal life, many of them schooling and mental health related, and well both of these were once great outlets for my anxiety, and anger, and general story tellingness, they have now become additional problems in my life. For the past 4 months I haven't really done much writing. I've had ideas, and thoughts, but most of them burned out either due to the massive rewrites required (that mostly applies to Old War, New Battles) or a general loss of interest. I haven't watched anything Steven Universe related that hasn't been about why the show is bad in probably 6 months ( and part of me is really inclined to agree, but my own opinions are my own) and honestly can really bring myself to watch an episode. The show was, at one point, a nice childish release for me. Something akin to what the original Ben 10 was in my younger years. As of late, however I have lost all interest in the show, it's characters, and where it's going. I will be keeping both stories and my account up and running and will gladly answer any questions anyone has. I hope that maybe someday I can come back here and have the inspiration to start John's story, or finish the alternate history of humanity, or maybe write something new. I also hope that my story can inspire others, because we REALLY need more fan-fictions about the human aspects of SU. I'am greatly sorry to those who followed me, to those that anticipated another chapter, a fitting end, or something that wasn't this. But that's life, it hits you hard with bullshit you don't want and then kicks you well your down.

Sincerely yours,

Joel B. Atwater

P.S.

If I ever do come back, both of these stories are getting completely rewritten. John is a walking action movie cliche, Steven has no substance to him beyond not liking killing, and the Gems have gotten such little character development beyond what is already stated in the show. The tribe that I wrote about in When The Stars Fell is every single cliche you could think of for an ancient tribe, like seriously the first scene I have of them is a human sacrifice. On top of this I didn't even really know where I wanted that story to go. I kinda just had a vague idea for a collection of short stories about the early human settlements on earth having to deal with Gems.

P.P.S.

This isn't the first time I considered this, or even wrote out a whole good bye ( that doesn't feel like the right word, but I suppose it is), it's just the first time I finally committed.


End file.
